Something Yummy for the Family

Where has the summer gone? It is almost August and school and routines and schedules will be back before we know it....yikes. No surprise. Time is passing too fast.

By now, cooking for the fam has kind of gone out the window. It's so hot and everyone is going in a dozen different directions. Maybe a couple of new recipes will help your house begin to slip back into a more structured schedule. Dinner. Together? What an idea!

Here is an easy cold soup that utilizes summer cucumbers. It has only five ingredients and can be made in a jiffy. Just give it an hour to really chill.

Cold Cucumber Soup
Peel and chop 4 medium cucumbers. Thinly slice about 3/4 cup green onions. In a blender, combine both with 1 tablespoon lemon juice, 1 teaspoon lemon zest, 1 teaspoon sea salt, 1/2 teaspoon ground pepper and 1-1/2 cups Swanson's Vegetable Broth. Puree. Stir in 1/2 cup sour cream and chill well. Serve topped with additional chopped cucumber, green onion and lemon zest. (If you like, add a teaspoon or so of dill)

The second recipe utilizes those yummy homegrown tomatoes available now. Enjoy.

Tomato Pie
4 medium tomatoes
1 9 inch pie shell-baked
1 cup chopped white onion
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
2 Tbsp chopped, fresh basil
1/2 cup Hellman's mayonnaise
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1 cup grated cheddar cheese

Preheat oven to 375. Cut 6 tomato slices for garnish and set aside. Halve the rest and remove seeds. Cut into 6 wedges. Place half the wedges in the bottom of the baked pie shell. Sprinkle with 1/2 cup onion, 1/4 tsp salt and pepper and 1 tablespoon basil. Stir mayo and cheeses together and spread half the mixture over the onion layer. Repeat all layers again and place reserved tomato slices on the top. Bake 30- 40 minutes , until golden brown. (If pie crust starts overbrowning, cover edges with aluminum foil.) Allow pie to set up and cool for about 15 minutes before serving.

Enjoy the rest of Summer!!! Chrissie

"What a Good Boy"

My youngest, Tom, invited his fraternity Big Brother to our cabin for the Fourth Of July. I have known Scott since Tom pledged Sig Ep at OU three years ago. He was always polite and seemed to take his Big Bro responsibilities seriously. I appreciated that. Someone needed to take Tom Swift under their wing at college.

The 4th weekend was busy, the cabin was full and people were coming and going all the time. There was rivering and laking and pooling. There was fireworking, bonfiring and 4-wheeling. I made lots of snacks, washed lots of towels and bagged lots of trash. Scott helped. He made his bed. He played with the grandchildren. He helped us cook 200 hotdogs and hot links. He chatted with Wag and me! He was easy to have around and fit in with our rag-tag group. I would have had him back anytime.

Lo and behold, about a week later, a letter arrived. A Thank You Note. From Scottie. Two paragraphs-with specific and well written Thank You's. The Float Trip-Thank you so much for putting us in and picking us up. The Fireworks- Shooting the big ones was something I have always wanted to do, thanks for the opportunity. A personal compliment- What a great family Tom has. Can you see how blown away I was? I wish appreciation and courtesy were the norm but too often adults as well as teens do not drop a note to say thank you for a kindness or occasion. I had a dinner party for a bride and groom and have never received an acknowledgement for the party or the wedding gift. It makes me sad that the bride does know better.

Scott's consideration may seem a small thing but it speaks of much bigger ones. I look for great things from him because he knows how to do the right things. He was raised to be a gentleman and to be polite. Scott does not just expect to be waited on. He understands how to make others comfortable. He is inclusive. He makes himself at home. He lets you know he appreciates being invited. Great things come to those who have these gifts.

Thank You Notes. Bread and Butter Letters. Being a good guest. Showing appreciation. Helping Out. Being genuine. Looking people in the eye. Shaking hands. Holding doors open. Standing up when an older person enters the room. Introducing yourself. Including everyone in the conversation. Showing interest. I could go on forever. Teach these skills to your kids. Model these attributes in your own life. Good manners makes for better life choices for the future. It's civilized. It's so important. chrissie

Do You Wordle?

Everyone probably knew about this but me, but now I am addicted. I heard about Wordle at State Superintendent Sandy Garrett's leadership conference this week. I couldn't wait to try it and now that I have, I'm sure there are others out there who could use it, too.

But before I knew its name, I had already seen it. Wordle's have been turning up in the mass media now for awhile. I typed one in for The Care and Feeding of Teenagers and this is what it produced - our very own Wordle. Wordles are useful for illustrating powerpoints and getting across the collective feel of a concept. I thought it was interesting that the computer program focused in on the word "children" and separated it out boldly from the rest of the words, since a teenager is nothing more than a child trying to break free and children are, after all, "people," which also stands out prominently in the word cloud (the name for the randomized words). Clicking on the wordle here will take you to the website.



Wordle was invented by Jonathan Feinberg of IBM using the JAVA platform. It's great for presentations, inspirations, dedications, finding implications and synthesizations. If your child had a summer project for an AP course, this would make a fun title page. Just imagine how it could randomize authors, chemistry terms, the possibilities are endless.

Visit www.wordle.net and enjoy!
Melony

I Love You, You Make Me Sad

Just a quick word about a couple of parenting articles I found on the Live Science website.

One article explained that teenagers are completely incapable of caring about their parent's feelings due to the way their brains work. Empathy, as we have said before, comes from a mature brain, so forget your teen's ever seeing that the floors need to be swept or clothes put away, as Chrissie alluded to in the previous post, because you have worked all day and are tired and are non-verbally wishing it was so. Understanding that it's the nature of the beast will help you cope with perceived inconsideration better and help you not scream, yell and threaten, as that won't help your teen's brain develop any faster. At least it hasn't been scientifically proven to work yet.


Click on the link above and it will take you to an article about depression and people with children. Evidently, in studies people with children are more depressed than people without children. Worry about children's health, happiness, safey and well-being even into adulthood seems to cause depression and sadness in many people. One really interesting point was that even when our children are doing well, we are still anxious and depressed about them.

The up side was that people with children - young children - are happier and more self-confident. But that happiness dwindles as the children get older and parents become more anxious about their well-being. I'm thinking that self-confidence (the parent's self-confidence, that is) can come into question, too, as teens begin to question their parent's competency. Not being cool anymore can be downright depressing.

All in all, teens contribute to that normal process we call life. Keeping everything in perspective can help alleviate that depression caused by having children. That and learning how to blog and tweet, text message and program the VCR...
Take care,
Melony

Take A Deep Breath

Do you ever watch the show Clean House? The premise is, the hosts arrive at a home and organize the surroundings of the people who live there. Sounds simple, right? Wrong. These folk, with children and dogs and jobs and seemingly normal lives, are living in an alternate universe of clutter, junk, squalor and mayhem. They don't sleep in their beds because the bed has disappeared under piles of clothes, linens, magazines and who knows what else. There are trails through the house and every wall, floor space, cabinet and closet is exploding with "stuff." Stoves that don't work, cars that don't go, coupons never used, mail never answered. There are foodstuff long since expired, litter boxes that are never cleaned, vents and fans and filters that should have been discarded years before......and and stains and mold that would have a normal person run screaming out of the house.

The hosts attempt to talk the hapless family into discarding, organizing and reassessing, all the while promising a sparkling and newly decorated environment once the mess is gone. They beg and plead to sell the 200 beanie babies, the Bobble Head collection, Grandma's crocheted doilies, (all 4 crates of them) and anything thing else that does nothing but gather dust and clutter. The smiling hosts do not find this an easy job. It is like pulling teeth for these lucky recipients to give up their "stuff." No matter that are raising their families in chaos- order, structure, discipline and self-restraint are not a priority.

As we wind down summer and look toward a new school year, wouldn't it be a good time to really look around at our own living environment? What kind of space and atmosphere are we creating for our own family? There is something so satisfying about cleaning out, moving on and only keeping the things around that we love and use. A comfortable and well managed home not only gives our children a sense of security, it models a type of behavior that will put them in good stead for the rest of their lives.

So, throw out the old National Geographics, drop off the clothes that have not been worn in a year, discard anything that does not have all it's working parts and really appreciate what you have chosen to hold onto. Living abundantly is not what you have, it's how you live. It's easy to feel like you're drowning in clutter. Throw you and yours a lifeline- and simplify your life. chrissie

Reading Children's Literature

There's something about my children having a required reading list on which there are authors I haven't read. Many parents feel the same "oh-that's-a-good-book-dear-you-read-it" avoidance of classic literature mixed with a responsible curiosity to know what's contained in those popular books and on that school reading list.

I feel guilty if I haven't read what my children are required to read. It feels like one of those "do as I say, not as I do" situations. Literature can bridge the generation gap - it has represented a common bond and culture between people since writing began. It gives is a common ground on which to understand each other's world-views and experiences, since obviously having all experiences is impossible. In short, it makes knowing "the other" possible.

That "other" person in your house is your teen. Knowing what's in the popular literature so attractive to teens can help us get inside their minds and their generation a little bit better. Back in the day it was Love Story and Jonathan Livingston Seagull, Mr. and Mrs. Bo-Jo Jones, or Flowers in the Attic and Stephen King's works, and classic pieces like The Catcher in the Rye, A Separate Peace and The Outsiders.

Today it's the big serial installments that are attracting kids - Harry Potter, Eragon, Twilight, and Percy Jackson and the Olympians, to name a few. While elements and themes are a bit different than in the past, for the most part the issues that have always attracted teens and pre-teens remain the same: love, identity, good vs. evil, magical thinking, and mystery. The popularity of Nancy Drew and The Hardy Boys mysteries

points out that the need for teens to explore and understand the world, battle evil, outwit grown-ups, and find their own voice is still prevalent in young adult works.

If there are novels on your child's reading list that you haven't read, try one. You might be pleasantly surprised by the quality of the writing in both new and classic works. Plus, you'll have something in common to talk about...

Happy reading,

Melony

Super Mom

Hope today finds you with a smile on your face after the 4th of July holiday. Ours was the filled with family, friends and traditions that have not changed since I was in the 3rd grade. Flags, fireworks and food. Parades, parties, and perfectly lovely catching ups.

I do have one complaint. Why is it that when all my tribe is converging in one place, I feel it necessary to become Super Mom? I know many of you do the same thing. We kill ourselves the week before, and once everyone gets there, it's the being together that is special, not the ironed sheets or waxed floor.

Case in point. I got it in my head that we just HAD to have homemade ice cream for the holiday. There is nothing better than peach ice cream, straight off the paddles. So....To Porter for peaches. Then Braums for half and half and whipping cream. The grocery for rock salt and sugar. Oops, forgot the ice...another stop. All the while, my group is arriving and you know, being together.

I am in the kitchen, making the custard for the base. Swimming? "No, I have to keep the eggs from curdling." Layering the ice and the salt. Ding Dang container won't spin. Start over. Visiting out on the deck? "No, have to undo and reload." Finally begins to rotate. Make note: Grandchildren could care less about the process. Add ice. Add salt. Can't hear the conversations of my family and friends over the whir-whir of the motor. Finally the maker stops. Oh yeah. Empty and repack with ice and salt so the concoction can "ripen".

At last, the great unveiling. I unscrew the lid and pull the paddle from the canister. The peaches and vanilla ice cream are in soft mounds and the results smell like summer. It's perfect. It's delicious. It's ready and .....there's no one here to taste it but me. Everyone has gone. To the lake. To float the river. To shoot fireworks. To play tennis. To celebrate the holiday.

So, I empty the salt and ice, clean up the machine and put the ice cream in the freezer. Anyone who has made ice cream knows it is never as good as when it first comes out of the machine. My family has missed the moment. Actually, while I trying to be Martha Stewart, I was missing the moments. Lots of them.

I will remember next time. It's my holiday too. I'll say 100 times, "Keep It Simple." "Keep It Simple."

Now, I've got to run. I had the idea to needlepoint belts for all the men in my family. There's only 6 months until Christmas and that's a whole lot of stitches. chrissie

Discedo Docendo

Leonardo da Vinci said, "I learn by teaching." Of all the teaching methodologies, having students teach material to the class or group seems to be one of the most effective. After all, who wants to look like a nut in front of that cute girl or guy in class, making understanding and preparation in the topic essential.

While re-reading Stephen Covey's The 8th Habit, I came across a brilliant but simple idea for helping one's children study and learn material in school - have them teach you what they are learning. They don't actually have to re-teach it to you, but just asking them to share the concepts learned in class will go a long way toward helping them retain what they are learning. Covey says it will also help you bond with your children in the process.

One of the new proponents of this teaching-what-you-are-learning is Chris Biffle, inventor of a technique called Power Teaching. These techniques work from kindergarten through college. Watch Chris on YouTube to get an idea of what Power Teaching is:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eBeWEgvGm2Y

The Power Teaching website can also be accessed at http://wholebrainteaching.com/. Biffle contends that reteaching using his method engages the whole brain and excites learning.

Why should parents care about any of this? Because ultimately the success of our children depends on good teaching and we are our children's first teachers. During the teen years and beyond we hope that good teachers can reach our children, keeping them engaged and on the path to success. If all else fails, students themselves should know how to teach themselves effectively, having an awareness of their learning styles, intelligence types, and how best to soak up the info for the upcoming test. There are times in life when we are forced to learn for ourselves and knowing how can help.
Melony