Love Vegetables

And, thank goodness I do, because vegetables have been a big part of our diet these past 7 months! If you have been following my other posts, you would know that not only are we eating differently due to Craig's cancer treatment plan, but also, I am cooking for a first time ever and with lots of vegetables.

We have learned to embrace edamame beans, spaghetti squash, a variety of peppers,  beans, beans and more beans. We weren't allowed all vegetables as some interfered with the process of Craig's medication including eggplant, tomatoes and asparagus...basically our three favorite vegetables were forbidden during the one year treatment.

However, just recently while I was searching some new recipes, I stumbled upon a recipe/resource section on the site for Craig's treatment. Most of the recipes on the 1st 10 pages had tomatoes in the ingredients. I inquired with his doctors only to learn that although tomatoes were forbidden, cooked tomatoes were allowed!! UMMMMMMMMM, that makes a HUGE difference in our diet! We spent 7 months  indulging in olive oil on everything. Suddenly I can dress up our wheat pastas and pizzas with marinara sauce. (Insert loud "ahhhhhh" sung at a high pitch!)

So, given my inept domestic skills and our dietary restrictions, our dinners have been interesting to say the least! I recently took a dry run at making a Thanksgiving meal for Craig. Special note: Our Thanksgiving meals are catered every year. Yes, that is how pathetic I am in the kitchen. None-the-less, I made us a meal with all of the ingredients Craig and I could now have:
Turkey-check
Corn-that's fine
Waldorf salad-modified (raisons-cranberries forbidden)
Sweat potatoes-Minus brown sugar-added apples & honey
Green bean casserole-No mushroom soup..instead I mixed heavy whipping cream and parmesan.     Pulled that right out of my rump!
Pumpkin pie-wheat crust and homemade whipped cream with stevia!

Craig gave me an A+ for effort and an "A" overall. Not gonna lie, the wheat pie crust=not so good!

So as we prepare for our annual Thanksgiving meal this year, I actually have to so a little cooking for Craig and me. As my family engages in a catered meal, we will be dining with homemade, healthy, natural vegetables as our sides. No nap for us as we will be highly energized by the good eats!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Love your Country

Love your Country and be proud to be an American! I certainly do! My favorite part of July is going to Holiday Valley and seeing the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra play all of the military theme songs. While they are performing, the conductor asks for the members and retirees of each branch to stand and be acknowledged during their theme song. Not an eye is dry during that beautiful gesture of appreciation to all of the military troops. I often look to the sky and thank God for the freedoms and pleasures I have because I live in the USA!!!

As a counselor and former teacher, I am grateful for the opportunity to say the Pledge of Allegiance daily as a part of our morning announcements. All students and staff are expected to stand and most often do. A few years ago, I had one student sent to me after he refused to stand during the pledge. I was less than pleasant to him and let him know the very freedom he is trying to exercise is due to his being an American. The student was obstinate and I was not giving in about his need to stand for the pledge. I was very vocal and demanding and gave, what I felt, was an award winning speech to him on why he should value what the flag represents. I was gratefully surprised that no parent or administrator admonished me for my harshness towards this young man's act of defiance. I received Kudos from his teacher and the several staff members who worked in my office area and heard my lecture. There are many things I tolerate in this country, but not saying the Pledge of Allegiance in a school, is not one of them!

I am proud to be an American and hope you are, too. Thank you to all who have served or are presently serving in any branch of service in the USA. I am forever grateful for your sacrifices and hard work! God Bless!

Love ice cream

Who doesn't love ice cream? Kids and adults alike enjoy a good scoop or two of that sweet treat! For me, the best time of the year is when the local mom and pop ice cream shop opens up usually in May. Because this year's weather in Cleveland has been quite exceptional, our local ice cream shop opened two months earlier!  Just seeing that ice cream store open this year has made remember such fond memories of being a child!

My sister, Anne has a sweet tooth beyond anyone I know. Her daughter, Jackie, has inherited this a bit, too! I got such a kick out of taking all of my nieces to an ice cream-like yogurt store this Spring. I watched as my health conscientious niece, Elie, prepared her tasty treat with fruit and low sugar, low sodium yogurt ice cream. In the mean time, her cousin, Jackie loaded up her cup with the most sugary, multi-flavored yogurt topped with  candy and cereal pieces galore! Luckily, Anne, Jackie and their family live right down the street from their neighborhood ice cream shop! They take a lot of walks to this store and have formed some great childhood memories, as a result!

Recently, my husband and I were at a restaurant that returned to town and located itself in the heart of where I spent a lot of my time as a child. The restaurant was a former home in this town and they had pictures of the neighborhood and former stores throughout the now restaurant. We had been there a few times, but this particular time we were seated in one of the bedrooms. Right above our table was an old picture of the Penguin Ice Cream Shop. I literally started to tear up and cry. My husband couldn't understand me at first until I finally sputtered that my parents took my older sister and I there often after night time cruises in our roadsters and dune buggies. I have such fond memories of getting the lemon ice cream  and the peppermint ice cream, as they were quite unique flavors during that time.

Ice cream brings a family together. It is used at birthday parties, social gatherings and play dates. The memories brought on by enjoying this tasty treat will stay with your children forever. Every child deserves some sweet memories!

Love Your Family

Blood is thicker than water. If I had a dollar for every time I heard
that statement from my mother, well, I probably would have spent it. My mother
came from a small Italian family and they were the only ones in America,
as the rest were in Italy. Her parents died when she was a young adult
but she was very close to her brother and his family. She ingrained in
us from the get-go that no matter what, family is always more important
than friends. You can’t pick your family and you can’t oust them out
of your lives when you disagree with something they have done or said.
It is because of my mother that my sisters and I are so close despite
infrequent differences and occasional poor choices. (guilty).

We had a very nice upbringing but somehow, I can at least speak for
myself, put a lot of “fun” into some dysfunctional adult choices. No
matter how crazy one of us got, the others were always able to pull us
all back in again to regroup. Ultimately, no matter what happens, we are
always able to find humor in it, as well.  I can’t imagine my life
without my sisters and father. Our love is unconditional and I feel it
gets stronger over the years due to our ability to sift through various
elements of our lives.

It is important to instill in our children early on that their family
is important and they should love each member even when they may make
some mistakes along the way. Parents should role model this
unconditional love even when they are having problems with each other.
Harsh words towards or about a spouse or other family member in front of
children is unnecessary and often harmful to the children.

Love snowmen

      How can we not giggle and love the sights of snowmen!!! I get a kick out of driving down the roads and seeing the creative snowmen displayed in people's front yards. The creativity ranges with various accessories including hats, scarves, stick arms, carrot noses, etc....
     Each year, my sister's kids display their idea of their family as snowmen. They range in size from tall to real small representing the two parents and four young kids. It brings me to giggles when I see it! My fondest memory was making a snowman with my father when I was older. He was certainly creative and thought outside the box often. He rolled one large snowball making the head only. He left it in the middle of the yard, decorated it accordingly as a face with a hat and a scarf wrapped around the bottom. In front of the head were two stick arms with mittens attached...as if the snowman had melted slightly. It looked pretty funny and got a number of cars to stop in front of our home for weeks!
     This winter I encourage you to get out and make snowmen with your children. Be spontaneous and get the kids out of the house! be creative and step outside of the box with your snowman decoration! Let the kids make the family members including snowdogs, snowcats.....Have fun and enjoy the snow!
     

Love Trick or Treating

Halloween is, by far, my favorite holiday of the year! My family still celebrates the day and trick-or-treats in the neighborhood where we grew up. Yes, my sisters and I, who range in age from 37-49,  still Trick-or-Treat! There are usually at least a dozen nieces and nephews who also participate in the event and my father dresses up to give out the candy. We begin the night promptly at 5pm with pizza for dinner. Then everyone is on hustle-mode to get dressed and be out on the front porch for our annual Halloween picture. At 6pm we are running across the lawns to all of the neighbors' homes screaming, "Trick-or-treat!!!!!" We cover a lot of ground and (truth be told) have been known on more than one occasion to kick out a young kid if he/she couldn't keep up or wasn't in the same positive frame of mind as the rest of us. Yes, years ago when my older sister grabbed my crabby nephew and yelled, "knock it off! We have some serious trick-or-treating to do!" I knew we were a bit over the edge about this event!

Yes, we found a way to take advantage of our small statures and benefit once a year from it! Rarely do we ever get called out for possibly being too old for such an activity. Clearly, I have to cover up my face so the parents can't see my crow's feet and I wear gloves so they don't see my wedding ring. Gotta be smart about this, after all! My older sister didn't get that memo. She was a witch last year and was complemented by a parent on her mask....um, there was no mask...it was her real skin...and we will never let her live that one down!!!

This year is little somber as the last family from our neighborhood (aside from ours) is no longer living on the street as the parents both passed away. I am so glad to have had all of these years to trick-or-treat! I hope my nieces and nephews will always treasure this holiday and will carry it on when they are parents! Happy Halloween, Everyone!!!

Love the Beach

I had the wonderful experience of vacationing in South Carolina last month. We visited Folly Beach for a few days and then Hilton Head Island. Both hotels were located on the beach with beach views from our hotel balconies. The weather was hot and sunny, the sand was as white as cotton and the ocean water was at a  perfect temperature!

Over the years, due to greater knowledge (JAWS, the news, JAWS, media, JAWS), I have become rather  apprehensive about swimming in the ocean. I walked it many times and viewed it from the hotel pools on most vacations. On occasion, I even dipped my feet in the water to get a feel. But, I have not boogie boarded or rode the waves in a long time. Of course, the new movie, “Sole Surfer” isn’t helping my case any!

Oddly, this past vacation I put aside all fears and doubts about the great ocean and hit it head on! My husband and I rode the waves and played like kids in the ocean at Folly Beach. We laughed and splashed and let the waves tackle us to the ground. I had forgotten just how much fun the ocean could be!!

With great enthusiasm and no trepidation, we hit the ocean almost immediately once we arrived at our hotel on Hilton Island. Once again, we were laughing, splashing and playing like little kids in the ocean. That came to a quick end, however, when the couple next to us yelled, “Hey we just got stung by jelly fish!!!!” My husband and I parted the ocean like Moses! We spent the rest of the day at the pool. Later that day I walked the beach only to find 4 jelly fish washed up ashore and hear the cries of 4 different people getting stung by jelly fish. The next day I decided the pool was for me, though I again walked the beach. This time I heard the shrilling cries from NINE different people getting stung by jelly fish. A few were kind enough to show me their sting marks and describe the intense pain they experienced from the sting. I was glad to have the refreshing and relaxing pool to enjoy that day.

I was amazed at how many people remained in the ocean despite seeing their neighbors getting stung.  That evening I even posted something about it on facebook. My friend, who was about 60 miles north of us at Isle of Palms beach commented that she, too, was stung. She  then stated that the sting only lasted 5 minutes and she was right back in the ocean! WOW! These people seriously love the ocean! I love the beach.  I love the ocean, too. But I'm good with loving the water from afar, pain-free, sting-free and with all body parts in tack.

Love your teacher

 

Well, it's that time of the year again: Time for the kids to go back to school.  If you thought the two months  of summer vacation went fast for your children and you, try being a teacher.  It is amazing how fast two months of summer can go, yet how slow the last two months of the school year can go for a teacher. 

Though I only taught for 10 of my 21 years in education, I have nothing but respect and admiration for teachers! They have one of the most thankless jobs available with the responsibility of  educating, parenting, coaching, counseling, mediating, guiding, etc. The list goes on and on. Parents may not always agree with a teacher's approach or style, but they need to trust in the teacher and believe the teacher has the students' best interest at hand.  

I have found that some of the most strict teachers actually have quite a large heart. (yes, there is always that one who maybe doesn't-but for the most part.....) When or if your child comes home possibly complaining about his/her teacher, remember there are two sides to every story.  Try not to be quick to judge! I know as a school counselor I have had ample opportunities to do this when student's have a conflict with their teachers. It is amazing how the two stories differ once I talk with the teacher?!   As parents you need to keep an open mind and positive attitude until (and hopefully after) you have all of the details. These are great opportunities for you to role model to your children unconditional love and respect for others.

Take yourself back to your classes when you were a student. There were probably class clowns and poorly behaved students in your class. Your teacher had to deal with all of them while making sure you received a valuable education. Compare  how you perceived the interactions back then to how you see those same experiences now as an adult.

Personally, I can think of a number of teachers I could have 'loved' a little more. I was that class clown (or poorly behaved student????) in most of my classes. I never thought of what my behavior did to interfere with the teacher's responsibility of teaching or my classmates interest and need to learn. I didn't quite get that memo until I taught special education, moreover,  children who were Severe Behaviorally Disturbed. I am sure the nuns were laughing   as they watched me in action from the Heavens. Paybacks, ey?

Have a great school year!!!!

LOVE

My parents were the icons of love with their unconditional dedication and devotion. They greeted one another with hugs and kisses whether they were coming or going. They even held hands while out in public! We never witnessed them fight or show any disdain or disrespect towards one another. In fact, it wasn't until we were adults that we learned about my father's passive-aggressive approach to my mother when he disagreed with her. 


Unlike most homes, my mother was the one who was just a little bit strict while my father was easy going and non authoritative. So, when my mother would occasionally ground my little sisters and he would disagree, no one would know. My sisters thought he was just a bit absent minded when they would ask him if they could go out at times which just happened to coincide with my mother being gone for the day. My father would allow them and coincidentally ask them to be home 10 minutes before my mother was expected home. And so this went on throughout their teen years. He loved my mother but didn't agree with some of her decisions. Instead of showing any disrespect in front of the kids or towards her, he just played dumb. Kind of genius-like! 


I longed for their compassionate kind of love and looked in all the wrong places for a real long time...20 years to be exact. Love has to be shown not just stated to be real. If someone tells you he/she loves you and then abuses you, hurts you, cheats on you, etc., well, that is just not true love. Abusive spouses/friends often will woo their significant other back into their lives by telling the person how much they love them. The actions state otherwise. Everyone deserves to truly feel loved and to have someone to love. Once you have that in your life, WOW, what a life you will have!


My husband reminds me a lot of my mother with his compassion, hugs and constant verbal reminders that he loves me. I thank God every day for such a warm, loving man in my life. It took a lot of lessons to get here, but once I got here, I embraced the relationship whole-heartedly. 


Kids need to be exposed to loving relationships. After all, kids learn what they live. We all know this. Are you role modeling a loving relationship in front of your kids? Do you deal with your disagreements behind closed doors? Do you show respect towards one another no matter what underlying stresses you are facing? What can you do to better role model unconditional love to your children?