Wordless Wednesday

[Almost] Wordless Wednesday

Garrett playing with Jamal's hat.

[Almost] Wordless Wednesday | May the odds be ever in your favor

I'm starting my third read-through of this series before the movie comes out next month.

I love these books.

If you haven't read them you are missing out!

What I'm doing instead of watching the Super Bowl

Giants and Patriots. 

I don't even care. 

Thank you Nintendo for such a suitable alternative form of entertainment.

I will say though, I could definitely go for some rotel dip and other yummy football watching snacks. 

SOCS: Saying Goodbye

Today’s Writing Prompt: Write about something that you unexpectedly had a hard time saying goodbye to.

I have said a lot of goodbyes. To different people and places and to different possessions as I've gotten rid of them. I can't think of an instance where I've had an exceptionally hard time with it though. It's actually usually the opposite. 


Old houses are the hardest, but have become easier to say goodbye to. I've probably moved 8 or 9 times in the past 5 years (since I graduated from high school). Some of these were only temporary living situations to begin with, so they're not hard to leave, but there have been others where I intended to stay longer, but I have moved whenever a lease has run out.


The easiest goodbyes for me are actually with people. I've lost a handful of really good friends since high school ended for various reasons, and I've learned that it doesn't affect me as much as it probably does other people. Most of the problems have come up because of the age I'm at. I think college kids have a lot of growing to do, and it can be hard to maintain friendships throughout the various stages of growth. All of the friends I've lost I feel like have been at a different point in their growing up than I was, and it caused problems. I always felt that I was giving a genuine effort to make things work, but oftentimes they weren't returning that effort. So in those cases I've been able to walk away and rarely look back. In the future, if I were to run into those people I wouldn't have a problem sitting down and talking to them, but if we're still at such drastically different points I refuse to let their negativity into my life. I try to surround myself with positive people, because I believe happiness is a choice, and I don't need other people making that harder for me to achieve.

                                                                     Source: gatherlove.tumblr.com via Tiffany on Pinterest

So, I wrote for more than 5 minutes. I just got started on a topic and had to finish. And it's not entirely what the prompt was asking for, but I don't care. I like doing Stream of Consciousness, because it really gets me thinking, and sometimes bending the rules and stretching the time is necessary for me. I wouldn't enjoy it nearly as much otherwise.

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This was my 5 minute Stream of Consciousness Sunday post. It’s five minutes of your time and a brain dump. Want to try it? Here are the rules…

• Set a timer and write for 5 minutes
• Write and intro to the post if you want, but don't edit the post. No proofreading or spellchecking. This is writing in the raw.
• Publish it somewhere. Anywhere. The back door to your blog if you want. But make it accessible.
• Add the Stream of Consciousness Sunday badge to your post.
• Link up your post at all things fadra.
• Visit your fellow bloggers and show some love.

[Almost] Wordless Wednesday | Are you done yet?

"Are you done taking pictures of me yet?"

Linking up to:

100th Day!

Today was Garrett's 100th day of kindergarten. All morning until lunch time the kindergarten classes rotated to different rooms doing fun activities to celebrate. My boyfriend and I both got to go and help out. It was a very fun morning for everyone.

Garrett and I talked about the 100th day and making something cool for it, and he wanted to make a gigantic snake. So we decided to make the snake in the shape of '100' and gave him stripes with 100 m&ms. Garrett seemed satisfied with it, and his friends all seemed to like it, so I think it was a success. The glue melted the m&m's so there was color leaking all over the project, but it wasn't too bad.

The doorway into the kindergarten hall was decorated with a super fun poster.

I got to the school late, so I missed the class doing a 100th day scavenger hunt.

The first thing I got to see was 100th day King/Queen crowns. The kids all got to decorate Steak and Shake hats with the number 100 and some various shapes and stickers. 

Garrett was actually almost willing to have his picture taken for once.

After they made their crowns the teacher told them a story as they sat on the rug. They're supposed to sit 'criss-cross applesauce' but Garrett apparently decided it was time to get comfortable.

They all got to sign their names on this "I am 100 days smarter!" sheet. I love seeing all the different signatures. One little boy circled his name after writing it. Garrett for some reason started writing his sideways down the paper. One of the girls wrote hers huge taking up a big chunk of the paper.

Everyone in the kindergarten classes was given a number between 1 and 100 to decorate a couple of weeks ago. As they brought them back to school they got hung in the hallway until the entire wall was completed. 

Garrett's snake was hanging up outside his classroom. He's the only one that had a creative project. Most of the others were just 100 pennies or cheerios in a plastic bag.

I'm not sure what he was saying here, but he was eating the 100 day snack he'd just made. The kids counted out 10 of 10 different things then got to sit down and eat it. 10 marshmallows, 10 pretzels, 10 m&ms, 10 cocoa puffs, 10 cheetos, 10 chocolate chips, 10 white chocolate chips, 10 fruit loops, 10 cheerios, and 10 goldfish crackers. 

Then they went in the next classroom to make '100' masks. 

Garrett finished his mask and just looked dreadfully bored. 

Luckily for him everyone else started finishing up and they sat down to sing this 100th Day Chant. (it sounds like the seven dwarfs song)

Finally they were back in their classroom where they did 10 sets of 10 different exercises. Garrett smiled for this picture during bicep raises then decided he wasn't exercising any more and stood there completely still for the rest of the time.

All that exercising made for some hungry 6 year olds. Lunch was the next stop. Then all the helpers left and it was back to normal for the afternoon. 

 

Homemade Dishwasher Detergent

I've made laundry detergent and fabric softener, so I decided it was time to make dishwasher detergent. 

It's something else that's really easy to make. Only 3 ingredients!

2 cups borax, 2 cups baking soda, 4 packets unsweetened lemon kool-aid

Mix it all together well. Use 2 tbsp. per load.
I put 1 tbsp. in the closed section of the dishwasher and the other 1 tbsp. spread on the door.

My dishwasher detergent has 25% less sugar! lol.
My endless collection of empty containers has really come in handy lately.

I only made a half batch, because I wasn't sure how I'd like it, but it turned out really well, and I'll definitely make a regular sized batch next time. 

Nearly everything in the dishwasher came out completely clean. A couple of things still had some stuck on food, but that happens even with the expensive store bought detergent. I'm pretty sure my dishwasher just sucks. All the clean dishes were great though.
I also put vinegar in the rinse aid compartment, and I think that's what's worked better than anything. Vinegar seems to work better than any rinse aids I've ever bought.


I used the recipe I found from this pin:

Source: Light & Spoon via Victoria on Pinterest

I'm also interested in the DIY Dishwasher Soap Packets that Stephanie from Lady with the Red Rocker made:

Source: Lady with the Red Rocker via Victoria on Pinterest

SOCS: NaBloPoMo

So I've decided that Fridays and Saturdays just aren't good blogging days for me. 

I'm going to try to blog the rest of the week from now on, but until I can get better at having blogs prepared ahead of time I'll definitely not be trying to blog every day.

It's not quite over yet, but I figured I'll use today's Stream of Consciousness to talk about my first experience with NaBloPoMo. 

I think it was really good for getting me into the swing of blogging. I liked having a goal for my first real month of this blog. I missed a few days here and there, but I don't mind it. I still feel like I accomplished quite a bit, and it will help me from this point forward. 

I want to slow down a bit in the near future and give myself a chance to get posts built up and written ahead of time, because for right now I've been writing every day about a project I also did that day. I want to get to a better point, so if something comes up I don't feel stressed to get something up since I'll have something ready to get put up anyway. 

I enjoyed having a place to go everyday after posting and seeing what others had written that day. I found quite a few blogs that I really enjoy through the NaBloPoMo page. I have a feeling I'll still follow it a bit so I can find more interesting people, but I don't like the pressure that it put on me for most of the month. 

Overall I feel a lot more comfortable with blogging than I did at the beginning of the month. I still have a long way to go, but I've now got 28 (this makes 29) posts under my belt, and feel like I've got many, many more to come.

 —

This was my 5 minute Stream of Consciousness Sunday post. It’s five minutes of your time and a brain dump. Want to try it? Here are the rules…

• Set a timer and write for 5 minutes
• Write and intro to the post if you want, but don't edit the post. No proofreading or spellchecking. This is writing in the raw.
• Publish it somewhere. Anywhere. The back door to your blog if you want. But make it accessible.
• Add the Stream of Consciousness Sunday badge to your post.
• Link up your post at all things fadra.
• Visit your fellow bloggers and show some love.

Avocado Bacon Swiss Grilled Cheese

I've been wanting something with avocado for a while lately, and had the idea to put it on a grilled cheese. Well, I decided that a normal grilled cheese wasn't gonna do it for me, and started thinking of things to add to it. I really enjoyed what I ended up with.

An avocado, bacon, and swiss grilled cheese.
It also had a bit of cheddar and some grilled onions.

I grilled the onions with some butter on the griddle and cooked the bacon (In the oven. I burn it on the stove every time.)

When the bacon finished cooking I started the grilled cheese. I just split the toppings between the two pieces of bread and put the sandwich together when the outside was done. It ended up being so good. I love the taste of the bacon with the avocado. So delicious! This is my new favorite version of grilled cheese. Can't wait to make it again.

And has anyone ever grown an avocado tree from the pit? My mom always did this when she had avocados, but I don't remember it ever actually getting past the root stage. I decided to try it on my own. 

 This e-how page has good information about how to do it. I know it won't ever make fruit, but I'm excited to try and start my own house plant.


I'm linking up to: