21 posts tagged “simon”
First off, I should report that we had a great time on our field trip yesterday. Our major complaint is always that we don't get enough time to play, and this trip was no exception. We take buses from the public school system, so we have to wait for them to finish their routes before they can come over and pick us up. Then we have to be back in time for the bus driver to pick up the kids on their usual routes. This means we didn't get to the museum until around 10:00, and then we had to leave at a little after one. When you add the time it took for us to have lunch and the time we spent in the planetarium, that didn't really leave a lot of time to spend running around the museum.
Simon's teacher requested that the second graders start in the Dinosphere, so we went in there first. Some of the other parents were trying to rush their charges through as quickly as possible so they could see more. I knew that Simon and his friend weren't going to have time to see everything, so I just let them stay and play whenever they became interested in something. The spent some time asking one of museum workers about the dinosaur bones, and the guy (named Mookie) spent a lot of time explaining raptors, fossils, and using resin casts to replace bones they didn't have. Then they moved on to the fossil dig area, and spent a lot of time unearthing a bone.
(Simon's the one on the right in the tye-die shirt. I always try to put him in bright colors when we go in field trips so he's easier to spot.)
The boys had a great time with the comics and superheroes.
After the planetarium, the boys wanted to go see the mummies, so we spent the rest of our time there. Simon was upset when it was time to go meet everyone to load the buses to go home. He wanted to go through at least two more exhibits. They also have an exhibit on the power of children that talks about Ryan White, Anne Frank, and Ruby Bridges that I would have liked to have seen.
After we got back from the school, my friend who is one of the lunch ladies asked me if I could come in as volunteer the next day to help serve lunches. After that, Simon's teacher mentioned that she was going to have to come in on Saturday to make up for the two days she had been out sick and the day she was on the field trip, so I told her that I would come in and help her grade papers before and after serving in the lunch room.
So this morning I got up and went in to school with Simon. His teacher had me grade some papers, and then she asked me if I wanted to see his standardized test scores that she had just gotten. (They don't give the parents copies until parent-teacher meetings later on, so I didn't get a copy to bring home.)
I was amazed! My second grader scored on the junior high level on almost everything! His reading comprehension score said "PHS", so I had to ask her what that meant. It turns out "PHS" means post-high school. His lowest score was a fifth grade level on one of the math sections. I asked his teacher, and she told me that it was because he just hasn't been exposed to higher levels of math yet. She laughed at me when I asked her if I could take it out into the hall and call his dad to tell him, but Steve was just as thrilled as I was.
I'm not sure, but I don't think my feet have touched the ground yet. ;)
I'm not sure who this kid running around my house this morning is. It's sure as heck not the son I usually have to cajole from his bed on school mornings. Do you think it has anything to do with the fact that we're going on a field trip to the Indianapolis Children's Museum today?
As I was getting out of the shower, Simon started to barge into the bathroom, so I told him to wait just a couple of minutes and I'd vacate the premises. As soon as I had dried off a little, I walked out of the room with a towel wrapped around me and the classic towel turban around my wet hair. On my way out, I said "Ok, I'm out! You're up to bat!!"
Simon came running in saying "No time to waste! We've gotta hurry! GO! GO! GO!!!"
As I was walking out, I remembered that I'd left my cell phone on the vanity (I set the alarm so I wouldn't stay in the tub too long--I tend to drift in the mornings. ;) )
I told Simon, "Ok, let me grab my cell phone and I'm ready to walk out the door!"
Simon gave me this flabbergasted look, (I'm sure I have NO idea where that look might have come from--I'm sure not his angelic Mother,) and said in his most exasperated tone...
Let me tell you, we've had some less than delicious meat alternatives. I can honestly say that any fake meat that comes in a can, won't be good. (Come to think of it, that should also apply to real meat that comes in a can. Vienna sausages--yuck. Spam--yuck. Deviled ham--yuck. Fish might be the only exception to this new rule, but I will admit that we like salmon and tuna out of a pouch much more than canned.) We've had fake canned scallops, fake diced chicken, fake hot dogs, and fake pork chops out of a can. None are very good. (I can also tell you from unfortunate experience that you can't roast soy hot dogs over a campfire. They just singe. Not good.)
Anyway, out of all of the canned meat alternatives that we tried, there was only one that we actually liked. It's made by a division of the Kellogg corporation called Worthington, and the actual product is called "Choplets". When you open the can, it smells remarkably like dog food, but if you take the individual pieces of "meat" out of the can, dip them in seasoned breadcrumbs, and pay fry them; they're actually pretty good. I couldn't believe it, but they became a favorite of Simon's. I liked them because it was so handy to keep cans of them in the pantry for those times that I didn't feel like spending a lot of time cooking. (Most vegetarian options that we like take a lot of advanced prep.) They used to carry Choplets at our local Kroger, but a few months ago they stopped carrying them. We miss them.
Here is the recipe I used, followed by my notes:
Seitan Nuggets
1 cup vital wheat gluten (I got mine from the bulk bin at Wild Oats)
(You can also add up to 1/4 cup of spices or other ingredients so I added about 1/8 cup nutritional yeast--also found in the bulk bin at Wild Oats)
3/4 cup water
2 tablespoons olive
oil
2 tablespoons red miso
2 tablespoons molasses
2 tablespoons tomato paste
1 tablespoon Braggs liquid aminos or soy sauce
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
4 garlic cloves, minced
1 tablespoon dried basil
1 tablespoon dried oregano
2 teaspoons paprika
2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon peppercorns
1 teaspoon onion powder
1/4 teaspoon cayenne powder
1 cup port wine or madeira wine
4 cups vegetable stock (I used boxed)
6 cups water
seasoned breadcrumbs
beaten egg and flour (if you want to use them for breading)
- Put the vital wheat gluten in the bowl of a stand mixer and add 3/4 cup water. (This is also when I added the nutritional yeast.)
- Mix until the water is absorbed. (It will come together almost immediately and become very rubbery.)
- Use the dough hook attachment on the stand mixer, and knead for a few minutes. (Or you can knead it by hand for about five minutes if you don't have a stand mixer.)
- Cover with a cloth and let sit for about 20 minutes.
- In a different bowl, combine the olive oil, miso, molasses, tomato paste, aminos or soy sauce, vinegar, and cloves until it becomes a paste.
- Add the seasonings from basil down to the onion powder and combine well.
- In a pot, combine wine, stock and water and bring to a boil.
- Stir about a cup of the hot liquid into the paste until it dissolves, then add the watery paste back into the pot and bring it all back up to a boil.
- Go back to your dough, and pull or cut it into two portions. Stretch, pull, and roll the dough into 2 logs. (They'll seem small, but it'll puff up while it cooks.)
- Put your logs of seitan into the pot, reduce the heat, cover, and simmer for about an hour—turning occasionally so the whole thing gets seasoned. (The longer you cook, the firmer it will be.)
- Store it overnight submerged in the cooking liquid. (The seitan will expand to about three times
the size that you start out with, but will shrink as it cools overnight.)
- It will keep in the fridge for about three days.
- If you're making nuggets, slice the logs into about 3/4 inch pieces.
- You can either just dip them in breadcrumbs or dip them in bread then egg and then breadcrumbs.
- Pan fry them in a little canola oil until they're golden and serve. (I used my electric skillet set on 350)
Simon liked them, but I was doing other things on Thursday and simmered the logs longer than an hour so they were a little firmer than I would have liked. I think I might try the basic idea again, but with a less complicated simmering sauce. I would also like them more if the pieces were bigger across like the Choplets. It was kind of a pain to bread all of those individual nuggets. Next time, I might try making it one big log and see how that turns out.
Today is a school holiday for Steve and Simon. I like having them home to keep me company, but I'm really glad that Simon is home because he woke up not feeling well. He had a cough this morning, and has been listless all day. We've been watching "The Presidents" on The History Channel, and Simon is sound asleep on the sofa. Actually, Linus is asleep on his doggy sofa, and the cats are sound asleep on our bed. I've been a lazy bum all day, but I haven't actually gotten in any shuteye.
We went to Costco last night, and I picked up a cookbook and a book on organic gardening. I flipped through the gardening book, but it's mostly a reference of organic solutions for gardening problems I'm not currently experiencing. It's actually a compilation of Rodale's All-New Encyclopedia of Organic Gardening and The Organic Gardener's Handbook of Natural Insect and Disease Control. I think it'll come in handy later, but for now I'm all engrossed in my new cookbook.
The cookbook I got was How to Cook Everything: Vegetarian by Mark Bittman. They also had his older (omnivorous) How to Cook Everything, so I had decide which one I wanted. Since my ultimate goal is to eat less meat, I decided to get the veggie version. I haven't looked at the non-veggie version, but I'm not at all disappointed with the one I got.
I spent a good portion of my lazy day coming up with a menu and grocery list to get us through to next Tuesday.
So far I've got the following:
- chicken and dumplings (I still have the stuff from the other day.)
- stir fried leek dumpling with miso carrot sauce with ginger and salad greens
- stir fried tofu with fried rice
- white bean and mushroom ragu with polenta
- homemade pizza
- either salmon or scallops with risotto and sauteed spinach & mushrooms
- edamame stew with couscous
- Chicago Diner burgers with sweet potato fries and salad
- seitan "chops" with sides of some sort
We'll see if that's what we wind up having.
I couldn't let Pancake Tuesday pass without remark, since my very blog is named in this saint's honor! ;)
Actually, I'm not even making pancakes today. I overslept this morning, so poor Simon had a cereal bar for breakfast. They are serving pancakes at our church tonight though. Steve will be running late to get over there from work, so he won't have time to swing by and pick me up. He's going to try to get Simon over there early enough to get some pancakes, but Steve'll have to get right to work on setting things up for children's choir. That should be done by 6:30 so I'm planning to have dinner ready at 7:00 tonight. I'm not making pancakes for dinner though. I have stuff in the fridge that needs to be used before it turns south, so I'm finally making the Parmesan Crusted Chicken topped with lemon dressed greens and broccoli and bow ties on the side. I'm actually glad I'm making it today. It's lemony, and kind of springy, so it'll be good for today since it's kind of warm and springy outside today. (It's only 9:00 am, and it's already 56 degrees.)
I can't believe how warm it is outside! We actually had thunderstorms last night. It's obnoxiously humid, but I'm still considering opening the windows and airing out the house this afternoon if we get above 60. It seems so springlike, that I'm actually feeling motivated to get some stuff done around the house! (And no, I'm not nesting. Flo is officially visiting. I'm sending Steve to pick up my Clomid this afternoon.)
This house is a disaster area right now. It started when I spent more time over at my mom's house cleaning everything out, and I've never caught up. It is truly driving me nuts having my house this messy, but I've been feeling overwhelmed. (I'm sure the hormone roller coaster that I've been no hasn't helped.) I've actually had days when I just sat here because I couldn't begin to figure out where to start. It's sad. Fortunately, I'm feeling this awesome, spring weather motivation today, so I'm going to try to take advantage of it! I might start out with some FlyLady chaos cleaning. (Where you just move from room to room and spend 15 minutes at a time in each room.) The best part about that method is when you're done you at least see some progress all over the place. Wish me luck!
We had an *interesting* day yesterday. It started normally enough, although we had gotten a cold front and gone from light jacket weather the night before to an arctic chill by morning. Steve went out to warm up the car, and it would crank but wouldn't start. It had been working just fine the night before when we went to the grocery, so we figured that maybe we had some condensation in the gas line that had frozen or something. Steve walked (in the -9 windchill) over to the gas station, and bought some gas line stuff. We put that in, and then pushed it farther down the drive so it would be sitting in the sun. No dice, it warmed up a little but still didn't start so we had to call a mechanic. The tow truck came about an hour later and got it started, but told Steve that it looked like the fuel pump was going out. The good news is that Steve was able to drive over to the station and save the tow charge! We talked to the mechanic throughout the day, and he asked us if the gas gage had been working properly. It hadn't. We had to pay attention to how many gallons of gas we had put in, and then kept track of how many miles we should have been able to go before we'd need gas again. It wasn't as much fun as it sounds.
Eventually we got an estimate for fixing it, and it will most likely cost us around $850 to fix. Ouch! The fuel pump is inside the tank with the gas sensor. They have to replace the entire tank, and the part alone is $600. It should be done today. The good news? The gas gage will be fixed when we get it back. No more gas math! Yay!
I also got a call about the job that I had interviewed for last week. I didn't get it. I can't remember if I posted about the interview or not, but I had called about a church secretary job here in town. I had what I thought was a decent interview, but I think they decided to hire a member of their church. The guy did tell me that he and the pastor really enjoyed talking to me about church growth, and that they wish they had another job to offer me in that area. He also kept saying that they felt that God was really going to use me based on our long talk about church marketing. He actually said that after our interview, he and the pastor sat there for an hour and debated the points I made. His positive comments were nice to hear.
Steve got a ride with a coworker to work this morning, and we called the mother of a classmate of Simon's to take him to school. Simon's classmate's mom seems to have forgotten him though, so he's home again today. When I called the school, I spoke with the aide in Simon's class. She told me that half of Simon's class was out sick yesterday, and his teacher is out sick today. Maybe I'm glad Simon has been home so he hasn't been marinating in all of those germs. There's actually a decent chance that Simon will be home again tomorrow because they're predicting a lot of snow tonight. We should be ok because his aide said she'd bring Simon's schoolwork he's missed over tonight on her way home from school. (I always forget that she lives a few blocks away. She said the next time Simon needs a ride, she'd be glad to pick him up. I'll have to remember that!)
Throughout everything, I'm feeling very PMS-like. I had a blood test last Monday, and the nurse told me that I did ovulate, but with the stress we went through finishing everything at my mom's house, I make no promises. The upside of not being pregnant is that I am so going to have a much needed stiff drink--or three.
My goal for today is to get everything cleaned up and wash blankets and stuff in case we lose power tonight. They're saying we should get four to eight inches of snow, but it's possible that we'll get some ice before the snow starts. I've lived through a week of no power after an ice storm, so I always try make sure the laundry is caught up when they start predicting ice. Fortunately, my laundry is mostly caught up, but I need to wash blankets and towels. It'll be nice to have it done even if we don't get any ice.
I promised Simon that he could play Webkinz on the basement computer while I'm working down there. I figure he can play a math or word game and it will *almost* be like school. Ok, maybe not.
Ok, I was just looking at the calendar because Simon is working on his 100th Day of School project for Monday.
Next Saturday is Groundhog Day, the next day is Super Bowl Sunday, that Tuesday after that is Mardi Gras, the next day is Ash Wednesday, and that Thursday is the Chinese New Year.
Then the week after that has Valentine's Day, the week after that has President's Day, and then the last week of the month has a Leap Day.
We get a holiday free week the first week of March (although Steve's 40th birthday is that week, so it's still a holiday in our house), and then Daylight Savings Time starts the 2nd week of March. Palm Sunday, first day of Spring, and Good Friday are all in the third week of March; then the next week has Easter. Then the next week is April Fool's Day.
So from now until April, there's some holiday every single week--and the first week of February almost has a holiday type thing every day.
Too bad we can't save a few of them for those long, holiday-free weeks of summer.
And I am SOOOOO glad! I'm finally starting to feel normal and not freak out about every little thing. (Not freaking out is very good, btw.)
I also finally figured out that the chromium supplement that I was taking was what was causing my insomnia. Since then, I've slept through the night every single night. (Sleep is very good, also.)
We got everything out of my mom's house, and found a place for her dog. Now I have tons of clothes and stuff from her house in my house. I didn't want to get rid of them because she still needs clothes, but I have no idea what she can still wear. Nothing in her house was sorted in any way, shape or form; so I have quite a bit to deal with. Because of that, I've been down in my basement trying to get it cleaned out. After going through my mom's stuff, I decided that I can't keep all of the crap we have down there for someone else to have to deal with. Plus, if you've read my blog at all, you know that cleaning out my basement has been a goal of mine ever since I moved in here. (Since the basement was already full when we got here.) I have to admit that I'm pretty overwhelmed though. I spent two hours down there yesterday, and I actually made a pretty good dent. I can't wait to be able to set up an area where I can sew and do scrapbooking and crafts. I don't think I've EVER had all of my supplies in one place and organized where I can actually find them. It'll be like crafter's heaven!
On the fertility front, I have to go in for a blood test on Monday morning so they can test my progesterone levels. I have no idea if we've conceived this month or not. I took the Clomid and have been really watching my blood sugar, but we've also had a lot of stress so who knows.
My immediate plan for the weekend is to spend some quality time with Simon. He's spent a lot of time in the past week or two being shuffled around while Steve and I worked to clean out my mom's house. I can tell that he's a little worse for the wear from the neglect. The DVR taped two new episodes of "Chuck" last night, so I see an evening of pizza, snuggling, and "Chuck" on the horizon for tonight.
I have to say, though, that our friends are wonderful people! Our friend's Tracy and Mike took Simon all day last Saturday. In the morning they went roller skating, and in the afternoon Simon and Preston went to a classmate's birthday party where they played laser tag. Then on Sunday, we took Simon over to spend some time with our friend Lynn. (They watched movies, played with army men, ate lots of snacks, and generally just hung out.) Then Monday was a school holiday, so Simon went roller skating with Tracy's family from 1:00-4:00, then Tracy dropped Simon off at Lynn's to hang out while we moved everything out of mom's house. I also couldn't believe how many people helped us move! Steve's niece Bonnie and her husband Sam brought their truck and trailer. Then my college friends Andrea and Brian, and a new friend from church, Jon, all helped us move. We couldn't believe how quickly we were done! Since then, we've spent the past few nights over there cleaning up, and I can't express how glad I am to be done with it.
I'm now off to the basement!
I downloaded a free trial version of Photoshop that I've started playing around with, but dang is there a lot to learn! Steve got me the real software from Costco for Christmas, but then we got a Costco coupon that goes into effect on January 21st that will save me $30, so I took it back for now. My trial version will still work until after the 21st, so I'm still using it.
I realized that I had pictures on my camera from August, so it might be time to upload them and maybe post a few. I'm giving you a break and not posting the Halloween pics. Here are a couple from Christmas and New Years.
(Click on the picture to get the longer caption.)
I finally got a call from my doctor's office this morning about Simon's I.Q. testing. I figured they'd tell me that they found out that Sylvan Learning Centers does that kind of thing, or something. Instead, she told me that they had made an appointment for him with a psychiatrist, and that he could do the test for $250--which insurance probably wouldn't cover.
I called the psychiatrist's office, and found out that they thought there were other issues that I wanted to discuss with the doctor. I told her that Simon isn't having any emotional, psychological, or behavioral issues that we've noticed. The biggest problem is that he's a straight A student, and gets bored in class. They wound up canceling the appointment, and told me that if we wanted to have his I.Q. tested, we would need to schedule a two hour block of time with the doctor, and that it would be $250. She also said that since the school system started testing the kids, they misunderstood because they don't really see many gifted children anymore.
So, I decided to call the public school system. The way I figure it, I live in the district so my child should have access to programs like this if they offer them. What I learned was that the local public schools stopped testing for giftedness when they did away with all of their enrichment programs.
It seems to me that No Child Left Behind has done the gifted child no favors. The laws that require a certain number of children to work up to grade level, do nothing for the children who are already working above grade level. They have actually hurt gifted children because the budget money that used to be spent on enrichment programs for the gifted, is now being spent on remedial education for children who aren't up to grade level. The schools are happily teaching to the middle, and the gifted children are screwing up the curve.
Luckily (or unluckily as the case may be) my child goes to a private school. Our school doesn't have an enrichment program, but it does have advanced curriculum to begin with. If it had enrichment opportunities, we'd be all set!
