No, I’m not getting paid to write about the Magic Eraser…in fact I but the off brand because it’s cheaper and works just as well, so I suppose I’m not the best spokesperson for Mr. Clean. Though I would be happy to review products if anyone wants to send them my way, that would be pretty fun! With such a high subscription list to my blog (sarcasm) I would guess I won’t be doing any product reviews in the near future.
So today I am selling my daughters Kid Craft Wooden Kitchen on Craigslist and at one point in time she went crayon crazy on it. I got most of it out with one of my cleaners (or a number of cleaners and scrubbing) but never even considered the magic eraser until I came across one unpacking tonight. Since I’m selling it I figured let’s try to get the small amounts of crayon off….two seconds later…BINGO…..It really is MAGIC.
No more crayon marks and with a little bit of spit (though I likely should have used water) I got the sticker residue off the oven part…for some reason Claire decided a sticker went there one day and the leftovers stayed. Since this has been so fantastic I really must buy more and I think I will go tackle EVERYTHING with crayon marks (which encompasses a lot of things in my house).
So to you Magic Eraser….I give you your own blog post!
I was so busy cooking, entertaining and doing homework this week that I didn’t whip out the good camera after all. SO….not a single picture from Thanksgiving (bad me) even people who consider themselves photographers don’t always take pictures. Trust me, I can’t cook, lug around a canon and chase after a three year old.
Our Thanksgiving turned out well and we are still happily eating leftovers.
It is the end of the quarter and I anticipate not having a life until December 7th when hopefully it all ends….well….until it starts again.
I wanted to mention that I saw my OBGYN the other day. My bleeding has been getting worse and I know it has to do with the PCOS. I’ve been off the pill for about a year now, but figure it’s time to go back on. While there I finally got to see the pictures from my surgery….and the verdict is in…..my ovary hurt all the time because there was a GIANT spot of endo on it that was fed by a bunch of veins….add that to PCOS and was NOT a happy camper. No wonder I feel so much better without it. He seemed to think that maybe the Adenomyosis isn’t as big of a deal as we once thought…even though I still have it, it has not been my MAIN medical problem. It makes me a little upset (not at my doctor) but in general that they couldn’t have diagnosed the PCOS a long time ago and maybe I could have treated it before it all went bad. I’ve had blood sugar issues (hypoglycemia) since I was 18 and I’ve battled with my weight forever. If I had known there was a reason for it I might have been able to make it less of an issue…alas…..we cannot change the past.
I’m now back on the pill, it’s making me pukey and I hate it. I so badly want a turkey sandwich from the leftovers but fear my tummy will reject it. Tummy hasn’t been too happy with the whole eating thing and I’ve only been on the pill a week 
BUMMER!
I don’t know if I mentioned it, but my nurse practitioner now has me on fish oil and vitamin D….my vitamin D was low when she did blood work and my bad cholesterol was higher than she wanted. I wasn’t a happy camper with that news. But I don’t mind the vitamins!
Though it has been a whirlwind week of bad news I’m still standing. I’m looking foreward to spending time with my family tomorrow and eating Turkey! I’m all prepped, made the pies tonight, made the yams (fresh of course) Made fresh cranberries (ok my grandma did them in my kitchen because she wanted to help) and so on and so forth. I’m excited for fresh baked rolls tomorrow with strawberry freezer jam 
There are so many things I’m thankful for, and I’m not going to list them all off. Yet, I do wish life was a bit more smooth right now. As I continue to look for work with my uesless psychology degree and go to graduate school for education I’m starting to ponder returning to the ONE thing I feel I was meant to do….music. I have the ability (though we are very broke and would still be) to finish my bachelors in music. I miss it, it’s in me and did I mention I miss it. I tried to put it away in a box for so long…7-10 years in fact. I actually thought I succeeded….but I clearly did not. So I’m looking in to putting some music classes with my grad school classes.
I’ll whip out the good camera tomorrow for pictures…..I’ll try to remember to post!
Jen
Finally I’m getting around to catching up. We were moving ON Halloween so it was a crazy day. I didn’t whip out my fancy camera, just used my little point and shoot. Here are some highlights of Halloween!
Claire helping Daddy decorate cookies!
Claire giving a little EXTRA “help”
More Decorating
Claire with Daddy
Claire as Minnie Mouse sitting next to the Pumpkins we carved
Ready for Trick-or-Treating
Minnie Mouse
Our Family in Pumpkins….
The Loot while watching the Great Pumpkin
I’ve been working on patterns to make little animals for Claire for Christmas. She loves animal families and the plan is to make a little family of owls for her. This owl was my test subject. Sadly Claire found him and claimed him as hers..so if I’m going to make a family it will have to be after she’s in bed and hidden the rest of the time.
Mr. Owlie is made from felt and then hand stitched (very sloppy) to look like a child made him. I thought it would give him character. I want to do a larger version, so that will be my next attempt. Owlie happily resides in Claire’s room.
If you would like a pattern for Mr. Owlie please let me know and I will scan and email it to you. Not sure if anyone is interested in such things.
This is Mr. Owlie in process…..
Here he is finished
I cut out a green and red owl (about palm sized) to be a christmas ornament….Claire decided to come in and make her own owl out of my felt peices. Not exactly what I had in mind…but it’s her version.
I would like to introduce you to Alicia and Josh who have been trying for a baby for seven years. They are looking to adopt a very special baby to make their family complete. I wanted to post their information in hopes that someone out there looking for adoptive parents would find these two special people ready to give a baby a loving home.
Please visit their blogspot:
http://hopingtoadoptamiracle.blogspot.com/
and pass this along to family and friends, post it on your facebook, help this couple out!
Jen
Well what comes after moving you ask? and why have I not been back to blogging? Well, it’s because our household has been hit by the flu. The common flu, H1N1, I don’t really know but it SUCKS. I’ve now had a fever ranging from 99-100 for SIX days now. Luckily Claire seems almost un-affected by it and cares almost for herself, but Ryan and I have been pretty sick. I think the worst part is the exhaustion. I know I must have slept 15 hours last night and awoke still exhausted. If I stay doing NOTHING my fever stays down, but if I get up and do ANYTHING it goes back up. I have so many interesting things to post about, yet no energy to take the pictures, edit the pictures, put them up, narrate etc. I’m also WAY behind on homework. I’m just a little frustrated, ok I’m a LOT frustrated by the way things are going. Being sick isn’t what I needed right now. When Ryan went to the doctor they said it was likely H1N1 because thats the main flu strain going around. From what I can tell they are probably right. This flu is hanging on an unsual amount of time and actually went straight in to my chest. So far I feel as though I’m getting “better” but still not perfect. I missed last monday’s class…my saturday classes…and now it’s seeming that if I don’t kick this fever tonight I will miss class again tomorrow making me out a FULL week. The doctor advised that I stay indoors until I have gone 24 hours without a fever.
What has shocked me is that Claire hasn’t come down with this. She seems warm to the touch and a bit sweaty sometimes, but really has no other symptoms…considering she is three and can be irritable for no reason at all. She got her H1N1 nasal mist the DAY Ryan started coming down with the flu. I checked her temp the next day and it was 99.5…but that’s really it. Maybe she’s running a temp, but I don’t check it regularly unless she has other symptoms. Since I don’t know where the ear thermometer is, she doesn’t know how to stick it under her tongue…well you know what the other option is…and she just doesn’t really like it. (I don’t blame her).
I had to cancel a Dr. Appt. with my OB, cancel a maternity shoot I was going to do as a gift for a friend and had momentarily dreamed that the flu would be a week off to catch up on reading and homework…but I must have been feverish when imagining that. I did get a few chapters read before the full on sickness hit me, but once it hit…yeah..I’ve been screwed. I think I have pounds of reading and three papers due currently. BLAH!
So maybe in the near future I’ll be feeling well enough to start posting again. I miss blogging. I was becoming rather soothing to me.
I’ll post an old picture for something entertaining in this post:
I’ve not had time to properly update my blog because we’ve been in the middle of moving to a new place. We’re not at all excited…since we just moved in to the place we are moving out of (did you get that?) Yet it has to be done. Tomorrow is the day, so I’m frantically cramming homework today. Claire is excited to be moving to our new townhouse because there we can have the kitties. I’m just ready to be settled so I can get back to my many craft projects, knitting, sewing and cooking.
Here….Read my homework if you are bored
What does it mean to be diverse? In what ways can we provide a safe and inclusive environment for all learners?
It is so hard to explain diversity because it covers so many different areas. It mostly boils down to encompass acceptance, respect and the fact that each individual is unique and different. Differences can be race, ethnicity, gender, socio-economic status, age and physical abilities. Political beliefs, religion, and other ideologies also are differences that make each one of us unique. You could go on forever about diversity, but instead it’s much more important to focus on how we can bring together the diverse population of students.
For a long time the educational system did not take diversity in to account. I think even today there are still problems including the diverse population of students. Yet there are steps that every teacher should be taking to provide a safe and inclusive environment for learners. For a long time tolerance has been accepted as the way to deal with diversity, yet this is something that needs to be overcome in the educational system. Embracing the diversity and being able to facilitate the diversity to enrich learning environments is really what is needed. I personally think that teachers need to come closer to the level of the students and get to know each of them individually in order to effectively educate them. In addition facilitating students to get to know other students and learning about one another is also important. Teachers can do this by providing somewhere safe for people to be diverse. Things like sitting in a circle (even the teacher), doing a personal check in and check out before and after class, and making sure the students understand that they will not be judged are some very important things that teachers can facilitate. Giving students the opportunity to teach each other is also important in facilitating diversity. I think also knowing each students learning style and accepting it is an important factor. I also think that a students learning style changes from one classroom environment to another. I know that I have classes where I often speak up and actively participate, then others I don’t feel as comfortable and just sit back and observe. I think this is something that has to do with a teachers teaching style in addition to learning style.
We took the family to the Pumpkin Patch this weekend. We knew it was going to be busy, but it was CRAZY. We might even attempt another trip on a quiet day, or go to a completely different pumpkin patch. Sometimes the more commercialized they get…the less fun they are.
Claire had her friend Nicki there and they had so much fun!
I see this look a lot. I didn’t have my focus points right on this shot, but I still like it. If I didn’t point it out most of you wouldn’t notice.
Nicki trying to avoid the camera.
I think this is my favorite shot of Claire for the day. I had to photoshop out the elephant ear crumbs off her face.
Look…I can lift giant pumpkins!
The girls together, I couldn’t get Claire to cooperate! She’s a year younger than Nicki.
This is my favorite shot of Nicki, it really shows off her personality.
Nicki being cute!
Anyone who knows Claire knows she can be quite a goof-ball. This is Claire making it so I won’t want to take her picture anymore.
Great Grandma and Great Grandpa came with us!
What I’ve got in the slow cooker today as I work on homework…..
Corned Beef and Cabbage in Guinness Stout
4 pounds flat cut corned beef briskets
1 (12 ounce) bottle Guinness Stout
1 medium yellow onion, peeled and cut into wedges
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 bay leaf
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 head cabbage, cut into wedges,rinsed and drained
6 medium white potatoes, peeled and quartered
1/2 pound carrots, peeled and cut into 3-inch pieces
Rinse corned beef under cold water, and pat dry. In a Dutch oven, or other large pot with a cover, brown corned beef well on all sides over high heat. Pour Guinness over the meat, and add enough water to just cover the brisket. Add the onion, garlic, bay leaf, cinnamon, cloves, allspice and pepper to the pot. Bring pot to a boil and skim off any foam. Reduce heat to a simmer. Cover pot and simmer for 3 hours. Add carrots, then potatoes and then the cabbage wedges to the pot. Cover pot, and continue cooking until meat and vegetables are tender (about 20-30 minutes). Remove meat and vegetables to warm serving platter/dishes, leaving the cooking liquid/sauce in the pot. Over high heat, bring the cooking liquid to a boil, and cook until the amount of liquid is reduced by half (about 10 minutes). Slice the corned beef across the grain; serve with the vegetables and the sauce on the side.
