FB App.

Dear Facebook,

I have a new idea for an application users can utilize while enjoying your wonderful product.

Let's just say a mom puts some chicken breasts in the oven, for chicken salad and goes to her Facebook page to upload photos of her little girl's preschool graduation. Let's continue that train of thought and say she forgot to start the kitchen timer. Well, if that mom is having tremendous trouble with seasonal allergies and her sense of smell is shot she will not be able to smell the chicken breasts being fully cooked and ready to take out of the oven. I propose an application in which one can time certain things whether it be their use of Facebook or let's say the amount of time one has had chicken breasts baking in the oven. Maybe a random beep of the users choosing could sound every so often and remind the user that there IS life outside of Facebook. Much like a reminder string tied around one's wrist.

Now I have no real experience with this type of forgetfulness so I'm not sure on the effectiveness of this application, it's just a thought.

Sincerely,
Someone that will not be eating chicken salad tomorrow


PS Facebook is not in blogger's spellcheck dictionary, just something else you'd like to be made aware.

Afterthought

Dear Self,

Just because you have a headache after Thanksgiving supper is no reason to forget to label the FoodSaver bags with their contents.

You see 2 1/2 weeks later you'll want to have some leftovers. You'll open the freezer door and think which one of these frozen, hard as rock bags has our Thanksgiving leftovers? You won't know. You won't be able to tell. Surprisingly, raw frozen chicken thighs look very, very similar to a frozen bag of turkey, potatoes, gravy and dressing. You never would have guessed this to be so. It's true.

Next time, suck it up and get the Sharpie.

Sincerely,
Self

Chiquita

I received the following information regarding bananas in an email sent to me by my mom.

BANANAS - very interesting A professor at CCNY for a physiological psych class told his class about bananas. He said the expression 'going bananas' is from the effects of bananas on the brain. Read on:

This is interesting.After reading this, you'll never look at a banana in the same way again.

Bananas contain three natural sugars - sucrose, fructose and glucose combined with fiber. A banana gives an instant, sustained and substantial boost of energy Research has proven that just two bananas provide enough energy for a strenuous 90-minute workout. No wonder the banana is the number one fruit with the world's leading athletes.But energy isn't the only way a banana can help us keep fit. It can also help overcome or prevent a substantial number of illnesses and conditions, making it a must to add to our daily diet.

Depression: According to a recent survey undertaken by MIND amongst people suffering from depression, many felt much better after eating a banana. This is because bananas contain tryptophan, a type of protein that the body converts into serotonin, known to make you relax, improve your mood and generally make you feel happier.

PMS: Forget the pills - eat a banana. The vitamin B6 it contains regulates blood glucose levels, which can affect your mood.Anemia: High in iron, bananas can stimulate the production of hemoglobin in the blood and so helps in cases of anemia.

Blood Pressure: This unique tropical fruit is extremely high in potassium yet low in salt, making it perfect to beat blood pressure. So much so, the US Food and Drug Administration has just allowed the banana industry to make official claims for the fruit's ability to reduce the risk of blood pressure and stroke.

Brain Power: 200 students at a Twickenham (Middlesex) school ( England ) were helped through their exams this year by eating bananas at breakfast, break, and lunch in a bid to boost their brain power. Research has shown that the potassium-packed fruit can assist learning by making pupils more alert.

Constipation: High in fiber, including bananas in the diet can help restore normal bowel action, helping to overcome the problem without resorting to laxatives.

Hangovers: One of the quickest ways of curing a hangover is to make a banana milkshake, sweetened with honey. The banana calms the stomach and, with the help of the honey, builds up depleted blood sugar levels, while the milk soothes and re-hydrates your system.

Heartburn: Bananas have a natural antacid effect in the body, so if you suffer from heartburn, try eating a banana for soothing relief.

Morning Sickness: Snacking on bananas between meals helps to keep blood sugar levels up and avoid morning sickness.

Mosquito bites: Before reaching for the insect bite cream, try rubbing the affected area with the inside of a banana skin. Many people find it amazingly successful at reducing swelling and irritation.

Nerves: Bananas are high in B vitamins that help calm the nervous system.

Overweight and at work? Studies at the Institute of Psychology in Austria found pressure at work leads to gorging on comfort food like chocolate and chips. Looking at 5,000 hospital patients, researchers found the most obese were more likely to be in high-pressure jobs. The report concluded that, to avoid panic-induced food cravings, we need to control our blood sugar levels by snacking on high carbohydrate foods every two hours to keep levels steady.

Ulcers: The banana is used as the dietary food against intestinal disorders because of its soft texture and smoothness. It is the only raw fruit that can be eaten without distress in over-chronicler cases. It also neutralizes over-acidity and reduces irritation by coating the lining of the stomach.

Temperature control: Many other cultures see bananas as a 'cooling' fruit that can lower both the physical and emotional temperature of expectant mothers. In Thailand , for example, pregnant women eat bananas to ensure their baby is born with a cool temperature.

Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD): Bananas can help SAD sufferers because they contain the natural mood enhancer tryptophan.

Smoking &Tobacco Use: Bananas can also help people trying to give up smoking. The B6, B12 they contain, as well as the potassium and magnesium found in them, help the body recover from the effects of nicotine withdrawal.

Stress: Potassium is a vital mineral, which helps normalize the heartbeat, sends oxygen to the brain and regulates your body's water balance. When we are stressed, our metabolic rate rises, thereby reducing our potassium levels. These can be rebalanced with the help of a high-potassium banana snack.

Strokes: According to research in The New England Journal of Medicine, eating bananas as part of a regular diet can cut the risk of death by strokes by as much as 40%!

Warts: Those keen on natural alternatives swear that if you want to kill off a wart, take a piece of banana skin and place it on the wart, with the yellow side out. Carefully hold the skin in place with a plaster or surgical tape!

So, a banana really is a natural remedy for many ills. When you compare it to an apple, it has four times the protein, twice the carbohydrate, three times the phosphorus, five times the vitamin A and iron, and twice the other vitamins and minerals. It is also rich in potassium and is one of the best value foods around So maybe its time to change that well-known phrase so that we say, 'A banana a day keeps the doctor away!'PASS IT ON TO YOUR FRIENDS

PS: Bananas must be the reason monkeys are so happy all the time!

I will add one here; want a quick shine on our shoes?? Take the INSIDE of the banana skin, and rub directly on the shoe...polish with dry cloth. Amazing fruit !!!


This is what I read while eating our dessert this evening. Know what we had for dessert? The banana cream pie I made yesterday afternoon. Also, I made two loaves of banana bread today. Weird.

New Blog

Some of you FCCers may remember Larry and Patty Longard. They are now living in the cities and have a beautiful little girl, Maya. Larry has a wealth of information about books, children's books in particular. For all you moms, and dads, out there that love to read to their kiddos check out Larry's blog.

Apparently Larry's blog was featured in the St.Paul Pioneer Press. This is big time people.


One Year of Children's Books


Lots of good reviews.

15 Lessons

I received this in an email from my friend Michelle.

If you are thinking of having children and are wondering if you're ready.... Go through these 15 lessons as a checklist to prepare yourself.



Lesson 1
1. Go to the grocery store.
2. Arrange to have your salary paid directly to their head office.
3. Go home.
4. Pick up the paper.
5. Read it for the last time.

Lesson 2
Before you finally go ahead and have children, find a couple who already are parents and berate them about their...
1. Methods of discipline.
2. Lack of patience.
3. Appallingly low tolerance levels.
4. Allowing their children to run wild.
5. Suggest ways in which they might improve their child's breastfeeding, sleep habits, toilet training, table manners, and overall behavior.
Enjoy it because it will be the last time in your life you will have all the answers.

Lesson 3
A really good way to discover how the nights might feel...
1. Get home from work and immediately begin walking around the living room from 5PM to 10PM carrying a wet bag weighing approximately 8-12 pounds, with a radio turned to static (or some other obnoxious sound) playing loudly. (Eat cold food with one hand for dinner)
2. At 10PM, put the bag gently down, set the alarm for midnight, and go to sleep.
3. Get up at 12 and walk around the living room again, with the bag, until 1AM.
4. Set the alarm for 3AM.
5. As you can't get back to sleep, get up at 2AM and make a drink and watch an infomercial.
6. Go to bed at 2:45AM.
7. Get up at 3AM when the alarm goes off.
8. Sing songs quietly in the dark until 4AM.
9. Get up. Make breakfast. Get ready for work and go to work (work hard and be productive) Repeat steps 1-9 each night.
Keep this up for 3-5 years. Look cheerful and together.

Lesson 4
Can you stand the mess children make? To find out...
1. Smear peanut butter onto the sofa and jam onto the curtains.
2. Hide a piece of raw chicken behind the stereo and leave it there all summer.
3. Stick your fingers in the flower bed.
4. Then rub them on the clean walls.
5. Take your favorite book, photo album, etc. Wreck it.
6. Spill milk on your new pillows. Cover the stains with crayons.
How does that look?

Lesson 5
Dressing small children is not as easy as it seems.
1. Buy an octopus and a small bag made out of loose mesh.
2. Attempt to put the octopus into the bag so that none of the arms hang out.
Time allowed for this - all morning.

Lesson 6
1. Take an egg carton. Using a pair of scissors and a jar of paint, turn it into an alligator.
2. Now take the tube from a roll of toilet paper. Using only Scotch tape and a piece of aluminum foil, turn it into an attractive Christmas candle .
3. Last, take a milk carton, a ping-pong ball, and an empty packet of Cocoa Puffs. Make an exact replica of the Eiffel Tower .

Lesson 7
Forget the BMW and buy a mini-van. And don't think that you can leave it out in the driveway spotless and shining. Family cars don't look like that.
1. Buy a chocolate ice cream cone and put it in the glove compartment. Leave it there.
2. Get a dime. Stick it in the CD player.
3. Take a family size package of chocolate cookies. Mash them into the back seat. Sprinkle cheerios all over the floor, then smash them with your foot.
4. Run a garden rake along both sides of the car.

Lesson 8
1. Get ready to go out.
2. Sit on the floor of your bathroom reading picture books for half an hour.
3. Go out the front door.
4. Come in again. Go out.
5. Come back in.
6. Go out again.
7. Walk down the front path.
8. Walk back up it.
9. Walk down it again.
10. Walk very slowly down the sidewalk for five minutes.
11. Stop, inspect minutely, and ask at least 6 questions about every cigarette butt, piece of used chewing gum, dirty tissue, and dead insect along the way.
12. Retrace your steps.
13. Scream that you have had as much as you can stand until the neighbors come out and stare at you.
14. Give up and go back into the house. You are now just about ready to try taking a small child for a walk.

Lesson 9
Repeat everything you have learned at least (if not more than) five times.

Lesson 10
Go to the local grocery store. Take with you the closest thing you can find to a pre-school child. (A full-grown goat is an excellent choice). If you intend to have more than one child, then definitely take more than one goat. Buy your week's groceries without letting the goats out of your sight. Pay for everything the goat eats or destroys. Until you can easily accomplish this, do not even contemplate having children.

Lesson 11
1. Hollow out a melon.
2. Make a small hole in the side.
3. Suspend it from the ceiling and swing it from side to side.
4. Now get a bowl of soggy Cheerios and attempt to spoon them into the swaying melon by pretending to be an airplane.
5. Continue until half the Cheerios are gone.
6. Tip half into your lap. The other half, just throw up in the air.
You are now ready to feed a nine- month-old baby.

Lesson 12
Learn the names of every character from Sesame Street , Barney, Disney, the Teletubbies, and Blues Clues.
Watch nothing else on TV but PBS, the Disney channel or Noggin for at least five years. (I know, you're thinking What's 'Noggin'?) Exactly the point.

Lesson 13
Move to the tropics. Find or make a compost pile. Dig down about halfway and stick your nose in it. Do this 3-5 times a day for at least two years.

Lesson 14
Make a recording of Fran Drescher saying 'mommy' repeatedly. (Important: no more than a four second delay between each 'mommy'; occasional crescendo to the level of a supersonic jet is required). Play this tape in your car everywhere you go for the next four years. You are now ready to take a long trip with a toddler.

Lesson 15
Start talking to an adult of your choice. Have someone else continually tug on your skirt hem, shirt- sleeve, or elbow while playing the 'mommy' tape made from Lesson 14 above. You are now ready to have a conversation with an adult while there is a child in the room.

Now, I ask you, are you tough enough?

Passport

Initially I planned on feeding my family Hungarian Goulash. I'm not sure how authentic this dish is as I'm not Hungarian. Basically you brown round steak cubes dredged in flour and then add about 3C onions. You are also supposed to add some beef stock, pepper, salt and PAPRIKA. I believe this is the Hungarian part of the dish.

After I did all these steps I went to check on my dear girly to make sure all was well. It was. I ventured back to the kitchen and sniffed. I sniffed again. Yep, sure enough that smells like chili. Apparently I was adding my red spice a bit too quickly because I chose the chili powder not the paprika. After I said a not so nice word I decided all will be well. You see right before you serve the "Hungarian" Goulash you add about 1C of sour cream.

Knowing sour cream can solve many, many ailments I decided to grab my passport and head to Mexico instead of Hungary. It may be warmer there anyhow.

Super-Size on the Dollar Menu

You know when you only have a couple things to wash and so you turn the load size dial down to small. Well, this is just a thought, be sure to adjust the dial back up to super size when you do a full load next time. I'm just saying. Also, if you accidentally forget this piece of valuable information try not to do more than two large loads dialed down to small as it only wastes time when you have to re-wash.

Rubber Teeth

As Isaiah and I were discussing the impending loss of his first top tooth he wondered about the size of the adult tooth that will replace the baby tooth. I told him it would be larger than the baby tooth.

He thinks that's great as he then could pretend to be a rabbit (picture a boy forcing a buck-tooth look) or even that ice age thing. A saber-toothed tiger? Nope. An Arctic Hare? Nope, you know that big thing with loooonngg teeth in the front. Oh, you mean a walrus? Yeah, a walrus. I could pretend to be a walrus. I suppose you could pretend that. (They won't be THAT much bigger, but the boy was left to imagine)

Isaiah then told me that walrus' were made of rubber to keep warm. Wow! The things I learn from my first grader, it's amazing.

FYI

Note to self: When you notice Anna putting raisins in the front pocket of her overalls don't forget to empty said pocket before doing laundry.

When we found out Isaiah was to be a boy everyone said things regarding his pockets. They mentioned how you have to watch what boys keep in their pockets and how you need to be sure to empty their pockets before you accidentally send a frog, or other such thing, through your wash machine. Isaiah never, ever hid stuff in his pockets. Anna, on the other hand, has THE cleanest collection of rocks, sand, sticks and now raisins.

If Only...

A while back I posted on my sister's kitty, Fred, and how his time may be coming to an end. (I'd do a cool little link thing if I was as blog saavy as the rest of you) Fred, the cat has been on certain medicine and food and it's been helping. Today my sister called and mentioned how she'll need to call the vet. today as it doesn't look good. I've been bringing up the subject often with Isaiah so as to prepare him for the inevitable. He's been handling the situation very well. Isaiah even made a little craft for Fred to look at and love while he's still here and then the craft will be placed in Fred's box when he makes the trek back to Grammy and Gramps' house for his final resting place. :) I prepared Isaiah yet again and said we may have to go over to Auntie Sally's house after school and give Fred some hugs. (That's code for putting Fred down) He took in the information and then had a brilliant idea. Hey, maybe Fred just needs some adjustments! Wouldn't Dr.Z be proud? If only it were that simple.

Milestones

Isaiah was pondering life today, all 6.5years. He told me 4years old is the turning point in life. I was a bit taken aback at this news and asked why the turning point is 4. He said, "That's when you get to play with legos and lincoln logs".

Spring Fresh

Isaiah was pulling out jammies from his drawer for bedtime yesterday and found a dryer sheet still attached. He said, "Suh-weet a freshener! Thank you Mama for leaving the freshener on here and not throwing it out. I'm going to leave it in my drawer to keep it fresh." I took credit for the freshness and said, "You're welcome."

When I finish up the laundry today I think I'll keep those little dryer sheets attached to the clothes as apparently they brighten up the day of my son. Can you just imagine the joy when he finds a freshener attached to a pair of jeans?

Swim Lessons

Wow! Did I ever learn a valuable lesson Saturday morning. This is all first time mom stuff that you only mess up on once and then you remember for next time. Saturday was swim lesson registration day for the whole school district. These are the American Red Cross lessons I took as a little person and wanted for Isaiah to learn as well. I think they're a good quality lesson and you can't beat the $10 price.

Registration was to be from 8:30 -10:30 Saturday am. I thought, being it's district wide, I'd get there early at 8am and enjoy the solitude of the truck with my yummy coffee and nicely toasted bagel with cream cheese. I was just going to have a moment to myself until I noticed other vehicles in the parking lot then I'd go into the middle school, hand in my already filled-out registration slip, pay my $10 and know my little person would be all set for swimming lessons. Boy, was I WRONG!

I did get my coffee, however, when I pulled into the parking lot at 8:05 and noticed the mass of vehicles spilling out of the parking lot and onto the side roads I figured a moment to myself was not going to be possible. I said out loud to myself, "No way!". I refused to believe all these cars were here for swim lesson registration, there had to be something else going on today at the middle school. Nope, pretty much every single stinkin' vehicle was there for exactly the same reason I was only they were there MUCH earlier than 8:05. I went into the building and spotted a couple friends with kindergarten children with older siblings i.e. friends who've witnessed this unbelievable site previously, and I asked them if there was a line. They pointed to what I thought was just a group of people milling around waiting for 8:30 when in fact it only appeared to be a milling group because the line circled around and around and around the outside of the gym and the center of the gym as well. There were two lines of people! This was nothing I've seen before, WOW! I told them I thought 8am was early enough and they smiled at me with pity in their eyes and said that some people were there at 5:30am. What???!!!!

Well, I stood in line for half of an hour and not surprisingly you could tell when the newbies walked in as their jaws also dropped to the floor when they realized the spectacle before them was in fact all swim registration parents just like themselves. Thankfully the line moved rather quickly once 8:30 came about. I only had one session that worked for our summer schedule and Isaiah is only going to be in level 1/2 which had about four time slots available in that session, I thought I should be okay, hopefully? Again, I'm amazed that after getting to the middle school almost 30minutes early two of the time slots were filled when it was my turn and Isaiah got the LAST available space for the 8:30 lesson time! Wow!

I walked into the middle school with my jaw dragging on the ground and left the same way! I'm still shaking my head over the whole situation. I guess I know for next year.

Good to Know

I went grocery shopping today and read something strange on a big display box of Idaho Potatoes. The box said in bold print Environmentally Grown. I'm wondering how else potatoes would be grown? Aren't potatoes always grown in the environment? I would understand if it stated they were grown in an environmentally friendly way, but it didn't. So, I'm not quite sure what the potato growers of Idaho meant by that.