Upgrades for Me. . .

Since we have a little extra money, I thought I might upgrade a few small things in the house.  I have bought some new rugs for the kitchen and some new blankets for the den, some new wash cloths and towels too.  I have done this over a few months, these are just some little changes I have been doing.
I share all of that to share, what I believe, are the very best wash cloths I have ever used.  I found these on Amazon,  they are bamboo.  I think they are marketed primarily for babies but, my face deserves the same tenderness a baby does.   I use to sell Pampered Chef and we had some bamboo dish cloths that were fabulous and that is why I gave these little wash cloths a try.   They seem to be similar quality and they are so very soft.  I also purchased some bamboo towels and they are very plush.  My hubby has been using them, I have not tried them yet.  He has no complaints thus far, and believe me if he did not like them he would share that with me.  My older towels and wash cloths I am going to save and send off to college with Sprat.  I also found some great dish towels at WalMart so I am getting rid of my yucky old dish towels.  These will go to my rag basket to be used for yucky things.  

I am very easily entertained with new household items and I know these seem like silly little things but little changes are nice.  

Update on the Grandegg, he is doing well and has survived the week.  Some of the other eggs in class did not do as well.  I hope Big T will earn some extra credit since his survived.  They turn them back in today.  

Kids Learning Responsibility. . . .

Big T is taking a sort of economics and family life class this session.  They are learning about family.  Today he brought home an egg that he has to take care of for a week.  He has little Bob in a shoe box with a blanket, he also wrapped it in a make shift diaper.  He has to carry it with him every where he goes.  This is going to be interesting.  
I thought he was going to get the  mechanical baby.  Evidently this is what they do now to teach about babies.  This is good because it is supposed to go with him every where he goes but it does not whine and cry and wake him up at night. I think the mechanical baby is a good form of birth control too.  Kids learn  how draining babies can be, they don't just sit quietly in your shoe box. 
That is just my opinion.   Here is a picture of my grandegg. 

Bad Gifts. . .

Have you ever gotten a gift and thought, what makes this person think I would like something like this?  My hubby has started this tradition of cheesy gifts.  One year for Christmas he gave me a lemon spritzer.  Well I got him one of those things you can put in the car door to help you get out of the car, I think it is called a car cane.  He found it before I could give it to him and decided he would get me something ugly for Valentines too.  He gave me the giant magnifying glasses he found in "as seen on TV" section of the drug store.  He took offense that I gave him the cane thing to help him in and out of the car so he decided he would get me something to make me feel old.  I was being sincere when I got the cane thing.  He does have trouble getting out of the car because of his knee, I was not saying anything about him being old.
He did get me a box of really good chocolate and silly card that I really liked.
So, has anyone ever given you a gadget or something silly as a gift?  Do you think they really meant it in a mean way or were they sincere?  Sometimes we think that we are getting someone a great gift and our intentions are the very best but, the recipient of our gift is not as impressed.

Happy Valentines Day!!!

I hope every one has a wonderful day.   Do you get your kids Valentines?  I do, my Dad always gave my sister and I a little box of chocolate for Valentines and I have carried that tradition to my boys.  I know I have posted about that before because last year I ate their chocolates and put money in their boxes.  This year they actually got chocolate.   Do you have a tradition from your childhood that you have carried on to your kids?  I would love to hear your stories.
I like having little traditions to pass along to my kids.  I even mentioned this to Sprat this morning as he was eating breakfast.   My dear hubby balks at Valentines day, he says, like every other male on the planet that it is a made up holiday by the greeting card and floral industry.  The hubbs is a bit of a tightwad but, I do love him just the same.  He went so far as to tell me his thoughts on this holiday before we ever started dating, which by the way, was almost twenty-five years ago.  With all of his backwards thinking he is a romantic at heart or at least he used to be.  Our first Valentines together was quite romantic, he surprised me with a treasure hunt for all of my goodies.  He had stashed candy, cards and flowers around his apartment and left clues for me to find them.  I was very surprised especially after he had informed me he did not believe in Valentines.  
We do not buy each other gifts for Valentines but we do get each other cards and sometimes chocolate.  Sometimes we get to go out for a nice dinner, I hope we can fit that in between what the kids have going on this week.  Love and family it is all good.
Stay tuned Lacrosse season is gearing up, things are going to get interesting around here.

Completely Exhausted, but Loving My Job. . .

Went to my first staff meeting for our whole company, this covers three offices.   They normally require us to go to the main office, which is three hours from me, for this big staff meeting.  They had this one set up so that the other offices could sit in via skype.  They were giving us the year end updates on our goals and our milestones that we have accomplished.  The Company was so happy with the progress over the last year they gave everyone Starbucks gift cards.  I thought that was pretty nice and they fed us during our meeting.  It is really nice to work for a company that values it's employees, even the part-time workers.  They also gave us gift cards at Christmas and a gift that we got to pick out of a list of items.  
I have been working some nights these last few weeks and it has really taken it's toll on me.  Imagine, I am not as young as I thought I was.   I have also done some fill in work, which is what I was hired to do.  It really means a lot to know that they value every employee the same, so I can deal with my exhaustion.   Today was especially difficult because my dear hubby is not feeling well and you know what that means.  I worked all night and had to help get everyone to school too.  It has been a long day, hence the late post.
I believe God has put me in this position so I am working really hard to learn all that I can about the business so that I will be an asset to the company.

School Systems, Encouraging or Discouraging???

Had to go to a meeting for Sprat last night so that he can sign up for AP classes at school.  We went to this same meeting last year and scared Sprat out of taking any AP classes.  He has always taken honors classes and done fairly well at them.  I am not sure how other school districts operate their AP classes but ours require the student to first attend this meeting and then fill out an application for each class that they want to take.  These applications rival some that I have filled out to apply for a job.   Once you have submitted your application and signed it you cannot change your mind.  They said this on stage to all of the kids and parents, once you sign you must take the class.  I can understand them not wanting kids to back out of taking a class but things do come up and they really should take this on a case by case basis.  Sometimes I think they are trying to keep our kids from taking challenging classes, I feel like rather than encouraging them to stretch themselves they are trying to keep them from taking the harder courses for their own sake.  
I am so disappointed in our school system lately, between their lack of encouragement for kids to take some more difficult classes to the way some of the coaches behave toward the kids and how they talk so ugly about some of the kids in front of their peers.  This is leaves a nasty cloud hanging over this school system for me.
I really wish we could go back to the day when teachers actually taught and educated our children in subject matter and not in how to take a stupid test!!!!

It Seems I Have Lost a Step or Two. . .

It seems as though I have a lost a step or two since the end of football, Christmas, and Thanksgiving.  I cannot seem to get back on track, I have resorted to Pinterest to help me gain some footing.  I have never been a meal planner but I did look at many of those type of pins.   I started on Sunday looking ahead to the week and what the boys had going on and what the hubbs and I had going on and tried to plan meals for the week, sort of.
Well, even the best laid plans go off course, my meal planning is no different.  I had picked a few things thinking that we would have some left overs to enjoy in between.  I have renewed my membership at one of the shopping club stores and decided I would start there.  I do love these stores, I always find things I do not need and some things I never knew I wanted.  On my previous visit I had purchased some hummus that my hubby and my kids loved so that was at the top of my list.  I was also looking for some type of meat to fix, I had intended on doing a pork roast in the crock pot but I could not find a piece of meat that I liked.   I decided I would check out their fresh produce which is usually pretty good.  I happened by the fish section, fish had never even crossed my mind for a meal this week.  They had the most beautiful salmon already fixed and ready to go at a very reasonable price.  There goes my attempt at meal planning, salmon it is for dinner.  The hubbs and I used to eat salmon a lot before we had the kids, I would drizzle olive oil and lemon juice and sprinkle with a little dill.  This salmon had already been prepared just like that, all I had to do was pop it in the oven.  I decided I would have coconut lime cilantro rice as our side. I found this recipe on Pinterest at Katya at Little Broken.  I did alter the recipe just a little because I did not have exactly what she called for.  Here is how I fixed it with my alteration.

1 cup organic brown jasmine rice
1 cup water
3/4 cup coconut water

Bring to a boil, drop to med low and simmer for 12-15 minutes to let the water cook off.

Remove from heat add:  lime zest and juice of half the lime, and 2tsp cilantro and stir.

The recipe for Little Broken called for coconut milk  and white jasmine rice.  I used the coconut water because I had it on hand and because it did cut out some of the fat and carbs.  I used the brown jasmine because I had it on hand and because the hubbs is a diabetic and fewer carbs the better for him.  This was an absolute hit!!  My kids even liked it.  This was easy and so delicious and pretty healthy.   I did have some left overs so the hubbs will get to enjoy that tonight.

Stay tuned as I continue to try my hand at meal planning.