The Secret In the Sauce

I am blessed to have truly amazing people in my life (that's my darling dad, sister-in-law and her daughter, hubby and Curly above - I adore my family) including friends that I have made that I haven't even met yet. One such gal posted this wonderful morsel of wisdom on her facebook page and it was so perfectly phrased and rang so true to me that I would be doing a dis-service in not sharing it. "I've been thinking about the human tendency to compare ourselves with others. WHY do we do this? It is so lose-lose!! A better way is to have an abundance mentality and look for the good in ourselves, and in others. A true friend is one who is genuinely happy for other people's successes. They understand there's more than enough success, (and talent, beauty, etc.) to go around. A better way is to compete against ourselves and try to be a little better than we were yesterday, and to encourage others along in their journey to self-improvement.  Co...

Sometimes the hardest part of writing is figuring out where I want to start. As a mom I feel my mind is always going in a million different directions trying to hone-in on what needs to be done in any single moment. For tonight I'm going to put some hope out there. It can be dangerous indeed but so necessary to get from one day to the next. It's a bit like swinging from vine to vine in the jungle - and there are certainly some days I misjudge the distance to the next vine and crash and burn. Oh well. Right? At any rate, we met with Preston's IEP team last week and left a little disheartened. The psychologist who in no way was pushing meds was very carefully suggesting however that we may want to re-visit this route simply because Preston has struggled to control himself in class. He's been disruptive and uber hyper and she was worried that next year might be the year that his self-esteem takes a dive for the worst because he can't control himself and recognizes that...

My little two-year-old is such a giant shining star in my life. He is so much fun and makes me laugh multiple times a day. I was talking to one of my mom's friends the other day and she said, "We all love our kids of course, but don't you find that some are just (pause), juicer than others?" Well said, and very true. With that being said, my shining star has entered the 'terrible two's' and it is exhausting! I'm re-naming this phase the 'tantruming two's' because that is the biggest issue. He knows what he wants but doesn't really want to try to tell me exactly what that is, nor does he like to be told no, later, just a minute or anything that doesn't satisfy him immediately. He starts jumping up and down and whining and crying and screaming - it's totally awesome. "Blessed are they who expect little for they shall not be disappointed."     Expectations reduce joy. Most of the time we get frustrated becaus...

Parents. What would you say is the roughest, toughest, dirtiest job you've ever had? Do you watch the show "Dirty Jobs" with Mike Roe? Would it be one of those? A job in the military and being deployed? Being a CEO of a major company? Working on Wall Street? An ER Doc? A heart surgeon? A teacher? What would you say is the most important job you've ever had? Well, I can say, without equivocation that being a parent is both the toughest, dirtiest  and most important job I've had. I've had some stressful and demanding jobs but raising my kids is putting me through the wringer more than anything else I've done. I'm not quite sure why I have ever been or would ever be compelled to answer the question of what I do for a living with the, 'I'm JUST a stay-at-home Mom,' nor can I wrap my head around the fact that some people sneer at that answer or look down with disdain. Isn't it pretty much the most critical and ...

Ah Valentine's. I read yesterday that St. Valentine was actually a Roman Priest who was beheaded. Nice. I'll have to do a little more research into why exactly Valentine's day became a lovey holiday based on this person. At any rate, I still enjoy it. In years past I've coerced my man to take me out to dinner and started thinking this year that it might be a fun day to celebrate as a family instead. And it turns out quite a few of my friends already do that! So I jumped on the bandwagon and declared the whole week a week of love. I tied all of my nightly meals to the theme: Monday - HEART-burn chili and LOVEly cinnamon rolls Tuesday - Lady and the Tramp Spaghetti Carbonara Wednesday - Red Chicken (well, orange chicken - it's one of the kids favorite dinners) Thursday - Double Chocolate Sweetheart Waffles with sweetened whip cream and fruit topping with strawberry smoothie and my perfect scrambled eggs Friday - Date night (this one is for me and my man) ...

Oh the joys of parenting. Or not. Honestly, it's okay to once in awhile say, "this job sucks!" in regards to parenting right? We're back on the Preston Whirl-Around roller coaster ride and I'm never sure from one day to the next what is going to happen. I guess it's like that damn box of chocolates that Forest Gump emblazoned into our brains - I never know what I'm going to get. I try and try to be patient but like the 'Sound-O-Meter' they put on the jumbo-tron at basketball games, that's what my patience level looks like in a week, or a day, or an hour. Try as I may, it isn't always possible to have my game face on or kept the wrath of mom bagged. The point is that I try and I don't beat myself up anymore when I'm not June Cleaver. I do take note when those moments happen and with a shake of my head recognize that I didn't handle that the right way and review what would have been a better way to go about that issue. I think ...

Kids, even the ones without ADHD thrive on consistency, predictability and routine. Well, and why limit this to kids - I know how much better I do when there is some method to decrease the madness. Please welcome back to center stage, The Food Nanny Saves Dinner , by Liz Edmunds. If there is a common thread amidst psychologists, therapists and the food nanny, it would be that dinner is supposed to be fun - there should be as few rules as possible when it comes to dinner. Admittedly, dinner-time at our house for the last couple of years has been anything but. My dear little Preston, who (truth-be-told most likely has a sensory disorder in regard to food) lives in mortal fear of dinner, has been a tough nut to crack when it comes to getting him to venture out of his comfort zone to even try new food. This has lead to bit of a struggle between my husband and I in regard to the purpose for trying new food. In the end, what is the point of sitting down as a family to chat and h...