The Wild, Wild West

I wanted to share a photo I had taken of Meg and one of her BFFs last month. There was an "old time photo" trailer set up at our county fair.  I've always thought they were cool and was very happy when it didn't take much coaxing to get Meg and her BFF to pose.  

A woman helped them pick out their clothing, adjusted it "just so", composed their pose with perfection, and then stood back with me while her husband took the shot.  I honestly can't remember the last time my daughter wore her hair down, let alone, don a dress!  They looked so beautiful.

Her friend is also a tall, thin blonde (a year older than Meggie) so they are often confused for sisters.  Meg's been begging me to let her put the photo up in her room but I wanted to get it scanned first.  Now it's hers.

The Collector of All Things Crap

Meg has always been a collector.  First it was My Little Ponies, then Strawberry Shortcake/Friends/Horses, followed by Disney Princesses, Squinkies, Zhu Zhu Pets, etc, etc, etc.  Her latest "gotta have" are called Shoulder Buddies.  I liken them to trolls but the girls are quick to tell me that "They Are NOT Trolls!!!" (The bottoms are magnetic and they attach with a separate metal disc.)
  

According to the girls, they come from The Land of Understand and each one possesses a different type of "smart." A cute concept but of course being that they all have their own names and their own "smarts" they are a nuisance to the mother of a crap collector.

Believe it or not, their collections have expanded since this photo.  Here are Meg's, lovingly housed in a case from Home Goods ... purple, of course.

The car is from Steak & Shake and she fashioned that blue ribbon thing to be their medal.  (Didn't I tell you that trophies/medals are important?)  She will sit and talk/play with these little things for hours.  And if her BFF isn't here with her personal collection, the two of them will FaceTime so the whole group can play.

At ten, Meg sometimes seems so grown up but at times such as these, she's still such a little girl.  I may moan and groan over all of her collections but I will definitely miss these days when they're over.

Menu Monday

I'm into my third month of weekly menu planning and can't believe it took me all these years to figure this out.   Knowing the answer to the age old question "What's for dinner?" is nothing short of AWESOME and a single weekly trip to the grocery store is pretty darned fab too. We're definitely eating much better.  I prepare more things from scratch (no more Betty Crocker) and we always have fresh fruit and veggies (goodbye Del Monte).  Who knew it was this easy?  :-)

Menu for the Week of March 5th -

Monday - Turkey Meatloaf, Mashed Cauliflower/Potatoes (new recipe)
Tuesday - Black Bean Soup, White Rice
Wednesday - Green Salad withe Mesquite Chicken
Thursday - Tacos/Burritos
Friday - Salmon Cakes/ Seasoned Potato Wedges

Scooter Style

A quick post to share the page I created today.  I can't stand purple.  It's my least favorite color, hands down.  It also happens to be Meg's absolute favorite color.  Her room has a lot of purple in it.  Her clothes are primarily purple.  Even her phone case is purple.  Why should I care?  I wouldn't except for when I scrapbook.  It's hard to enjoy playing with pretty photos and wonderful memories when I have to use purple.  Bleck!

Meg saw it, immediately sighed and said "Ooooh, Pretty Page!"  Why? 'Cause it's PURPLE!

. . . A footnote to my previous MP3 player post.  My mom reminded me that I failed to mention that we get our audio books FREE from our local libraries using the Overdrive PC and Ipad App software.  That's definitely a big plus!  Check it out if you're interested.

Menu Monday

It's the start of another week which means it's time to post another menu. Before I get into that though I'd like to show you a little gadget my mom turned me on to.   (Ironic, because it's usually the other way around.)

It's the Sansa Clip MP3 player.  The photo is deceiving because this baby is TINY.  Really tiny.



I've owned and loved the Sansa Fuze for years but it's much larger than this little guy.  It's been a great running companion but the dial became frustratingly finicky.  (I love to run to Maroon 5 and Maroon 5 only so if the dial switched, I was basically out of luck.)  

Mom has been walking to audio books on CDs for years and decided to streamline to MP3s. (WTG Mom!)  She bought one of these and brought it along with her on their visit a couple of weeks ago.  We downloaded several audio books onto the device and by the end, I was hooked. I placed an order on Amazon that very night.

All of this leads me to running.  Or should I say, walking.  In the last several months I've had to reduce both my mileage and my outings because my poor aching bod just couldn't take it.  I'd been limping around like an 80 year old and was back on NSAIDS for the inflammation and pain.  Randy has been pleading with me to stop running and start walking.  I'd try but after a few blocks I'd give in to a trot and by the end, I was running again.   Maroon 5 was not helping. After years of running to the music it just didn't seem right to walk.  I hear the first few beats of a favorite song and off I'd go. Soooo...Mom's method of walking seemed like a good idea.  If I'm listening to a book (and not Adam Levine) maybe I could focus on the story and maintain a fast walking pace.  It's been just over a week and it's working.  I'm enjoying my book (Guilty Pleasures - Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter) and getting out nearly every day.  I walk briskly so I'm definitely getting a good workout but I'm not paying the piper afterward. Yes, my hip still bothers me but not nearly to the same degree and I think once it has more time to heal, it will be much, much better.  Thanks Mom!

Ok...now the menu.

Monday - Caesar Salad with Grilled Salmon
Tuesday - Chicken Pot Pie
Wednesday - Turkey Meat Loaf, Cauliflower/Potatoes AuGratin
Thursday - Tuscan Bean Soup
Friday - Tacos/Burritos
Sat/Sun - Open/Leftovers

Off to BJs for my weekly shopping!

A Proud Mommy Moment

What an evening!  I couldn't possibly be prouder of our daughter.

Meg was given a "by" on the science fair last year due to the onset of her CRMO so this was all a first for us.  The county awards ceremony was held at one of our two county's middle schools and Meg's eyes bugged out when she saw this.

The stage was filled with tables of trophies and beautiful ribbons.  (Remember, the best way to capture my daughter's attention is to tell her there's a trophy involved.)  She was awestruck, to say the least.  I told her no matter how she placed, I was very proud of her and purposely mentioned how beautiful the ribbons were hoping that she wouldn't be too disappointed if she didn't come home with a trophy.  (Trophies are important, remember?)

They started the ceremony by announcing first the 4th grade winners followed by the 5th grade winners in each science category...physical science, health and medicine, environmental, etc.  Meg's category, product testing, was announced last.  I think she got more nervous as the hour went on.  Ribbons were handed out for Honorable Mention and 5th through 3rd places, in that order.  The first and second place winners were given trophies.  Our school had six students place at the county level and our principal was there to cheer each one of them on.

When they finally got to Meg's category we waited as our county coodinator called off each winner, starting with Honorable Mention.  The more names she called, the more excited we got....

Meg's project won 2nd place in the county!!! 

I think she and I were both stunned.  She'd worked very hard and even though I knew she'd done everything "by the book", placement is based on the opinions of 4 judges, most of them teachers but only a few of them science teachers. Yay for knowledgeable judges!

Being the proud, sentimental mom that I am, it was really hard not to cry.  She may go on to win an Academy Award one day for her theatrics *wink* but this will be the proudest moment for me.  I was still taking photos this morning.  :-)

She resented me terribly that long month of November but last night, right before bed, she gave me a huge hug and said "I love you Mom." It doesn't get any better than that.

The Reluctant Scientist

My daughter is one of those types that has to be pushed in to attempting most things, whether it be food, activities and/or school projects but as is often the case, once she gets started she finds out that "it's not so bad."  This year's Science Fair was one of those things.  She knew she had to do it (it's up to the teachers in 4th grade and mandatory in 5th) but still she complained and procrastinated.  I'm sure having a gung ho scientist for a mom didn't make it any better.  ;-)  But as typically the case, once she got past the research phase and into the fun stuff, she came around rather quickly.

Her elementary school chooses the top 20 projects to advance for county judging.  Her project was in that top 20, number 7 to be exact.  (I know this only because I have inside connections. *wink*)  Her board was on display last week at the mall along with the other elementary school finalists.  I managed to snag a photo of her while I was there judging the middle schoolers.

She was very proud of her accomplishment as were we.  A few days ago she received a certificate and a trophy from her school acknowledging her hard work and if you know my daughter, TROPHIES make everything worthwhile in the end.

Well, along with her local school award she was also one of six at her school to receive an invitation to the Regional Science and Engineering Fair Awards to be held this Thursday.

Apparently her project placed at the county level!  No one yet knows what place she received (not even my inside source) so it will be a surprise.  She is thrilled though and very excited to have made it that far.

Her project (yes, chosen by me) was not anything earth-shatteringly scientific (comparing the amount of fat between ground round, ground chuck and ground sirloin) nor was her board particularly pretty (oh how I wanted to "JulieWorld" it up!) but what it is, is a good example of following the scientific process to the letter.  Yep, that's where Mama came in.  :-)  I made sure that she had all of her T's crossed and her I's dotted because of course, designing, performing and documenting experiments is what I did in "pre-Meg" life.  So while she resented me fiercely during that month, like always, she is so glad now that she took the time to do it all correctly.

We'll find out on Thursday just how well she did but it's truly not important.  I know that she's learned from the experience which is really what Science Fair is all about.  An added bonus for me is that she learned a little bit about her mama along the way.  :-)