French Toast Torture

November 25th, 2009 | Posted by Alison Spath in Breakfast - (13 Comments)

Given it’s Thanksgiving week, almost all of our normal homeschool-away-from-home activities have been canceled for the holiday. I wanted something warm for breakfast this morning but the idea of hot oatmeal just wasn’t doing it for me. Since we didn’t have to be anywhere this morning, I decided to spend some time on a more time-intensive breakfast.

Who wants French Toast for breakfast today?

Wednesday Breakfast

*crickets chirping*

Why am I the only one raising my hand? French Toast is good YO! Well you and I know that, but my pint sized gang has never been interested in French Toast. Insanity you say? That’s what I say!  Read more...

,

Polenta Pizza: Take Two

November 24th, 2009 | Posted by Alison Spath in Dinner Time - (17 Comments)

Friday night’s Polenta FAIL was an attempt to make Polenta Pizza. The recipe I was using called for instant polenta, mixed with water.

But I didn’t use instant, I used this:

Melissa's Organic Polenta

Melissa’s Organic Polenta, found in the produce section at Wegmans. What do you mean this isn’t “instant”. Looks instant to me! Open the package and BAM! Polenta! How can you get more instant than that?

Well, I guess there is in fact an instant variety of polenta because when I added water to this as directed in a magazine recipe clipping, I had very watery polenta that didn’t behave at all like I expected it to. I didn’t make anything resembling pizza on Friday. I made polenta pizza soup.  Read more...

,

The Quickest Way to a Long Workout

November 24th, 2009 | Posted by Alison Spath in Breakfast - (9 Comments)

For my work out this morning I planned to hit the machines at the gym. I was surprised to find that the temperature was only in the mid 40’s, so at the last minute I decided to warm up by jogging the mile to the gym instead of driving.

Exactly 8 minutes and 19 seconds later I was at the gym to hit the elliptical for 20 minutes and then spent 15 very sweaty minutes on the stair climber. Why do you get so incredibly sweaty on that machine? Tell me! Someone tell me why!  Read more...

, ,

Get Lost

November 23rd, 2009 | Posted by Alison Spath in Parenting - (9 Comments)

Today we had plans to meet up with some new homeschooling friends for a nature hike. This informal group meets weekly – outside – all year round. The idea is that “kids need to be outside and surrounded by nature”. What a concept! A small group, a few of whom we know from other homeschooly places, this idea is right up our alley. The central theme is that we’ll get outside, exploring nature, no matter the weather. So even when it’s cold and snowy or wet and rainy, we still meet up and do something outside together.  Read more...

, , ,

Reunited and it Feels So Good

November 23rd, 2009 | Posted by Alison Spath in Breakfast - (12 Comments)

Didn’t I just say the other day that swimming is one of my least favorite forms of cardio? It’s cold, it’s wet, it’s tedious, it’s boring. But just like that ex-boyfriend you run into after some time apart, you find yourself wondering what was really so bad about him after all.

This is my way of announcing that Swimming and I have decided to start seeing each other again.

Before hitting the pool early this morning I had a quick pre-swim date with almond butter. So quick in fact that I apparently couldn’t be bothered to even close the refrigerator door.  Read more...

,

Did You Know?

November 22nd, 2009 | Posted by Alison Spath in Life - (14 Comments)

Did you know that if you let your 5 year old play with an alarm clock that you found in a box of hand me down toys, said 5 year old will inadvertently set the alarm to go off at 5:13? And did you know that this certain 5 year old will completely sleep through that alarm when it goes off at 5:13 on a Sunday morning?

Rise and Shine  Read more...

, ,

One Fine Day

November 21st, 2009 | Posted by Alison Spath in Party Time - (5 Comments)

This fine Saturday started out with a 7 mile trail run early this morning, much like last weekend’s trail run, but without all the photo shop fun.

We left early this afternoon on a little road trip for a family birthday party about an hour and a half away.

A glass of Pinot Grigio upon arrival? Why certainly!

Pinot Grigio

Corbett Canyon

Tons of great party food.

Great Party Food

Lots of veggies!

Veggies Lots and lots of veggies

A few different pasta casseroles were served for dinner tonight. I can’t remember the last time I had pasta and it was a welcome treat!  Read more...

, ,

There’s Always a Silver Lining

November 20th, 2009 | Posted by Alison Spath in Dinner Time - (17 Comments)

Tonight, in the history of cooking in my own kitchen, I had an EPIC FAIL dinner. It was a disaster – completely to blame on a new ingredient that I’ve never cooked with before: Polenta.

I will attempt this meal again next week and will share more details on tonight’s disaster then. Until that time I’m going to be annoyingly cryptic.

Fortunately though, there’s always a silver lining.

Like a giant salad? Thank goodness there’s always a Plan B.

Salad Makes It All Better

Packages from sweet friends named Whitney would be part of tonight’s silver lining as well.  Read more...

, , , ,

A NEAT Morning

November 20th, 2009 | Posted by Alison Spath in Healthy Habits - (11 Comments)

Given that yesterday was our Stay At Home day, I decided to take the girls car seats out of the car to wash the covers. Upon removing the Britax Beasts, I discovered they were harboring a small community of broken crayons, cheerios and Kashi granola bar crumb fugitives.

So this morning instead of running past the car wash like I do day after day, I thought my carseat-less vehicle could use a little quality time with the vacuum before I spent a half hour reinstalling the seats.  Read more...

, , , ,

Laundry Catch 22

November 19th, 2009 | Posted by Alison Spath in Dinner Time - (16 Comments)

On days when we stay home all day I try to get caught up on all tasks that are neglected when we’re away from home and running full speed ahead. You know… vacuuming, sweeping, feeding the cat.

Laundry is always on this list too, except when we’re home all day, Maxine changes her outfit six times over the course of about 12 hours. New socks, new underwear, the whole 9 yards. Usually she times her wardrobe change for when I’m elbow deep in rubber gloves and dishwater or I’m caught in a firestorm of pots and pans and herbs and spices trying to make sure nothing is going boil over or burn.  Read more...

, , ,