Mallard Feces

me: "You like spinach. and Blackberries. And Carrots. Do you want some?"

Gavin: "No."

me: [stirs it around...] "You know what this looks like...??"

Gavin: "Why do you think I said 'No.'."

me:"it kinda looks like diahrrea"

Gavin:"I was thinking Duck Poop."

me: "you're right, it does look more like duck poop. I should name today's juice concoction, Duck Poop. No, let's go with something a little fancier.. How about I name this one "Mallard Feces." ?"Gavin:"Maybe just "Lake Scum"

me: "That is a bit less off-setting."

Today's juicer came about via a different path than normal.

Gavin was Jonesing for the blackberries I had on the counter, saved for my juicer, so I asked him if he wanted some of my juice before I added spinach. He did. So I made juice with Blackberries, 2 pears, 1 carrot, and a slice of ginger for Gavin:




I like the layered look to the juicer stuff....






I poured half of it into a cup for Gavin (after I stirred it)

Then the half that was still remaining I added a bunch of spinach. ('bunch 'as in the 'bunch' from the store, not just 'some large amount')

and 3 more carrots......

It was not gross. It was not lunch. but a snack. Lunch was a protein bar, excedrin, and a nap - a need resulting from too much driving yesterday- in the dark.

Did I mention that Dashnyam has learned to ride a Bike?

Brian taught him.

J.P Day 2

Today when I left on my bike to ride to Bible Study it was COLD. Not only was it COLD, but it was actually drizzling. I made it 3 blocks and turned around and drove the van. I am a Bicycling Wimp. But I can say that I started my day with a brisk 1 mile bike ride.



When I got home from Bible Study, my 15 yr old son, Ki, decided he wanted to make juice in the juicer. He likes to do Kiwi and Strawberries (with half an apple to make it 'juicier')

I suggested he put in a sice of ginger- which he did.

(Ki has also decided to severely limit diary because it's not really all that good for you, and can be a bit..'binding'.. which triggers his reflux.)

I then had my turn at the Juicer. I started with a couple handfulls of spinach leaves. There is not juice to those things, so a couple of handfulls ends up looking like 3 Tablespoons of juice.

but WOWSER, is it GREEN!

Ki saved me 1 kiwi, 1/2 an apple, and 5 strawberries, so I addded those.




it was still looking VERY GREEN, so I added a couple handfulls of grapes. Really Dark ones. almost black. I want the spinach for the health benefits.. NOT the taste!

It looked pretty. But was still looking quite green and I thought it would taste nasty, The grapes covered the spinach taste well and it wasn't nasty at all.

I don't expect super-yummy treats, it is juicing for health- NOT yumminess, but I don't want anything too yucky. This was actually kind of good.

Then Ki asked why the juice in the fridge is clear, but when he uses the juicer it isn't. By 'clear' he meant 'not thick'. Iexplained that juice from the store is usually more like having juice squeezed out of the fruit (and adds water sometimes), but the juicer squishes up the insides of the fruits, too- making it thicker(and healthier).

The Chai Latte did not call to me today, but the chocolate covered peppermint patties did, so I will have the boys eat those today. I am denying that the Ding Dongs even exist in the pantry.

Juicer-Prep Day 1

Let me start by telling you about my lack of commitment.

I gave up on couponing- so my "31 days of Couponning" page has been deleted

I page up on the "30 Days to a Clean House" book thing, so that page on my blog has also been deleted.

I still read, but gave up on keeping a reading log- so that page, too, has been deleted.

My blog looks more clean and streamline now.

I also gave up on having breakfast with Dashnyam ay 7:45 in the morning. We will just do that every other Monday- because those are "Late Start Days" and he doesn't have to leave for school until 9:10AM.








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Now, onto Juicer-Preppedness-Week

The goal...plan... is to do a 2 day juice fast this weekend. Or maybe next week. In order to be ready for that, the juicer sites say to avoid dairy, caffeine, alcohol, etc for a week before the fast. The "etc" is wheat and refined sugars. I will try to limit those.

Also, to get ready, I am juicing for lunch this week. breakfasts will be my normal Protein Shakes. (Egg White Protein powder, berries, banana, a splash or rice/soy milk)

Dinners will be normal.

MONDAY'S MENU:
Breakfast- Protein shake with strawberries, a banana, a scoop of protein powder.... but no splash of rice milk. I forgot to get it at the store yesterday.
It was a little on the thick side, but not bad.

Lunch was from the Juicer.
1 Carrots,
a pear,
7 strawberries,
2/3 of blackberries from the little plastic box
a slice of ginger root

(I'll add some crackers or nuts...)

JUICING LINK 1

JUICING LINK 2

No dairy, No caffiene- though the homemade peppermint patty was calling to me from the top shelf of the fridge. And so was the Ding Dong from the pantry. And the Chai on the bottom shelf of the fridge. I just plugged my ears and fired my lazers!

They just all gang up on me when I have decided to ignore them.

I rode my bike to the store. It is probably a whole 2/3 of a mile round-trip. Surely that counts for exercize...

Dinner tonight is "Sub Sandwiches"

I bought different lunch meats, bacon, tomatoes, lettuce, spinach, cheese, onions, etc... And I think we have some corn chips. I will skip the cheese on mine, keeping with the no dairy thing. I usualy skip the cheese, though.

I need to go oversee Ki's science .... and give him a test maybe.

Foodies

The above treats I made for my friends at church. They are Peppermint Patties. Ki had asked for a big one for his birthday, s I decided to make a batch of regular ones while I was at it. I wrapped mine in foil and put heart stickers on them.

2 things-
[1] they were DE-LISH-OUS !!
[2] they were VERY VERY MINTY
the recipe calls for a mere 1/4 teaspoon of peppermint oil. That stuff is PO.TENT!

Last year I bought a little Summertime Kids cookbook.
We have never used it. I decided it was time it got some use.

I got out my Post-It flags. I have 4 colors. I marked 1 dessert and 1 main dish for each boy.

Today they drew straws tiny pompoms from fuzzy bag to decided who got to be chef on Friday.

Ki is making the main stuff (actually, he is making grilled cornbread, and he'll help with the main dish, but the cornbread was the recipe from the book)

Gavin is making Orange Torte. It is a fancy ice cream cake, I think.

I think I might make fettuccine with bolgnese sauce. I'll have Dashnyam help me.

also, on the topic of food.......
You may have noticed that a little over 2 weeks agog we got back from a 4 day gaming convention. Not healthy eating.
You may have noticed that Gavin had a birthday 2 weeks ago. cake. ice cream.
You may have noticed that last week, we went out to dinner twice for our anniversary.
You may have noticed that we had taco & cake on Friday for Ki.
You may have noticed we had pizza and a giant peppermint patty Saturday.

Soon, you may notice my hips are subsequently wider and more jiggly.

HENCE, it is Juicer Time! I want to do a 2 day Juicer Fast. This takes some pre-work. A juicer fast should be proceeded by a week of abstaining from caffeine, alcohol, dairy, and they say wheat- but I am not that crazy. I will try to limit it though.

I will post about my juicer journey, for those who are interested. Those not interested are still free to read and comment. :)

Oh, here are pictures showing how I made ONE GIANT PEPPERMINT PATTY. It was 9" in diameter.

I made a 'double broiler' with a medium sized pot and a metal bowl. I melted the chocolate chips (Ghiredelli bittersweet) with a Tablespoon of Shortening.

I used disposable foil pizza pans...

CLICK HERE for the recipe

Bake A Cake

Today is Ki's Birthday! He is 15.
YEAH!

He asked for tacos for dinner and eating out at Del Taco was decided.
YEAH! (for the no-cooking part)

In order to help Dashnyam with acquiring and comprehending the English language, I handed him the cake mix box and told him follow the directions and bake the cake and to ask me if he needed help or did not understand something.

This was proceeded by talk concerning his low grade in History class and his need to ASK for help, say when he does not understand, and not waste his time just staring at words or talking as if he does understand.

I showed him the list/picture of the needed ingredients and I showed him the 3 steps. He read. I had the cups and oil and egg box out.
STEP 1 was to heat the oven and grease the pan.

I asked him what he was to do for step 1. He picked pup the measuring cup.

I asked him again, what does STEP 1 say to do. I pointed to where STEP 1 was on the box. He read. He stood there. He stared at the box. Eventually I asked if he understood what we was to do. He said no. I asked him why he did not ask me for help. He of course said he didn't know. I reminded him that he is to ask when he needs help or let me know when there is something he does understand. I then explained what was meant by "Heat the oven to 350" and showed him how to do that.

I found the pans and told him to use the cooking spray (He and Ki used if yesterday for banana bread, so he was familiar with it). He sprayed the pans and then went on to step 2.

He did step 2 (mix all the ingredient.) He plugged int he beater and mixed the cake. After I explained to not turn them on before he put them into the batter and too hold them upright.

I asked him what was next. He read and asked me "Is this the pan?"- pointing to the cake pan.

He had never baked a cake so I asked him if he knew what cakes did in the oven when they cook. I asked him if they filled the bread pan to the top with batter. (no) and if the banana bread was up to the top of the pan when it was done cooking. (yes). I told him the cakes will get taller when cooked, so only fill the pans halfway.

We talked about how the round pan was less full and the square pan was more full, so the round pan would cook faster. We read the package about cook times. I pointed to the different times. I pointed to the 'cupcakes' and asked him if we made 'cupcakes'. He said "yes.". Me: Do you know what cupcakes are?
Dash: no
Me: if you don't know, then don't say yes. Ask what they are.

ME: I will ask you again. Did we make cupcakes?

Dash- Yes.

Me- If you do not know what cupcakes are, then when I ask if we made cupcakes you need to say to me that you don't know what cupcakes are. Let's try again.

Me- Did we make cupcakes, Dash?

Dash- I don't know what are cupcakes.

Me- I explained what they are and then asked him if that is what we made. He said no.
We found the cook time for the round pans and I told him to check sooner because our round pan was less full.



I told him when to check the cake and how to use a skewer to check if they are done.


He asked about turning off the oven. (He seemed concerned it was still hot, but figured it out. I can't imagine he really thought it would be cool right away, maybe he just didn't know how to know for sure it was off)

He inverted the pans and cut the bump of the bottom cake so he can stack them.

And he iced them.

He has started to ask me to explain how to do things and letting me know when he does not understand!
I think the cake making activity has been good for communication and comprehension!

Dashnyam's Very First Cake!

PREVIOUS DASHNYAM POSTS:
DASH1
DASH2
DASH3
DASH4

DASH 5

DASH 6

Truth Is.

TRUTH IS.... I have been married for 20 yrs now!

TRUTH IS.... my boys were the main feature on the front page of the newspaper.

TRUTH IS.... Ki turns 15 tomorrow.

TRUTH IS.... those were not in keeping with the whole 'Truth Is Thursday' spirit, but were more of a Mommy-Hijack of the Truth Is... Post.

Deal with it.

TRUTH IS.... if it were not for Julianna, I'd not have even remember I needed to blog something.

TRUTH IS... I have heard "OOOPS" so many times while my son was making the banana bread, I am a little afraid to taste it.

TRUTH IS... I have control issues. It is killing me to not know exactly what Dashnyam is learning every day. I found out today he had a test today. And there is a Parent Teacher meeting tonight, but I have an anniversary date with my husband so can't attend. it is kiiling me to not bee on face-to-face talking terms with his teachers on a regular basis. I wish I could just homeschool him.

TRUTH IS... I need to find aa better way to post pictures to my bog while using the iPad, right now I have to go to the main PC to add pictures.

TRUTH IS... I remember having more stories to post, awesome ones, at that. But I am brain dead from an overly busy schedule and have totally forgotten all of them.

Plan & Dash

Dashnyam survived 72 hours of gaming. He usually was in bed by 9, though the rest of us were up till 2AM often.

He played some new games and even taught a game of mine to a couple kids there.

I think we almost have our scheduling worked out.

Mon & Tues we will all eat breakfast together with Dashnyam- 7:30 AM
Other school days, Dash will get his own breakfast. My boys will have their morning computer time that ends at 8. Then Breakfast and jump right into school.

I think "after school computer" will be from 3-4:30. So all 4 boys have their computer time at the ame time instead of it feeling like there is always some kid playing on the computer.

some days I will have work/projects for my boys to do with Dashyam- to keep him involved and communicating.

Dinners will be around 6. 4:30-6 will be somce kitchen cleaning, helping me cook, or doingn their projects/activities with Dashnyam.

All times are subject to the random temporal shift that exists at this location.

PART 2-
I would like for my boys to be done with their schoolwork at 3 (about the time Dashnyam gets home from school)

So we are working on a schedule with the boys- what I want done / what they want done how much of each.

Ki makes breakfast Tues & Thurday.

Most 'chores' arond here are "do what I ask, wen I ask for help" So there are real assigned work other than GCK have 1 morning job each and everyone neds to clean their own eating place. I try to find something for D to do each daly. Today he helped bring the laundry in from the drying lines.

For School here:
G is doing calculus. he chose is math and made his goal and decided an our day shoud suffice. Tody after finishing his caclulus he was figuring out how to talk to aliens using math.

G&C are working on their chemistry. I want them to get through this course and want them to do 1 module every 2 weeks, but they can determine how much ti8me ech y they need to make that work.

K has his Apologia book, notebook prcased one with fill-ins) and his audi CD to listen to the book. Brian put Ki's Audi CD on the iPod for easy listening. I think listening will really help Ki's comprehension.

C&G are self-teaching Japanese. I asked them to do an hour a day, but I think 30 minutes a day s fine, esp if they practice with each other nd G downloaded the Japenes audio lessons to his iPod.

C is doing Statistics & Probabilty. His book is back ordered so he watching videos at www.khanacademy.org and I will see if I can find some problems online for him. He said Khan doesn't have problems to do, jst videos, and that made him sad. he says stuff like that often- never with a sad voice. He is just being Connor.

I an still looking for classes for Ki.

Ki is doing whatever math he wants at Khan. 45 minutes a day.

THIS will be a very structured school year for us!!

Here are some pictures from the gaming conference: