What I'm doing to reach out

It think everyone is trying to figure out ways they can reach out. I was really excited to see that they are doing a snowflake drive to decorate the new school. I emailed colleagues and my kids' teachers and they are all going to be doing this. After the holidays, my husband and I are going into L's class to help them make the snowflakes. What I love about it is that the little ones can do this, and it is innocuous. We don't have to talk about the tragedy, just that kids need some decorations in their new school.

If you want to get involved with this, here is the information:

Snowflakes for Sandy Hook
Please help the students of Sandy Hook have a winter wonderland at their new school! Get Creative!! No two snowflakes are alike. Make and send snowflakes to Connecticut PTSA, 60 Connolly Parkway, Building 12, Suite 103, Hamden, CT 06514, by January 12, 2013.

I also asked my brother that in lieu of doing our big dinner out as a Christmas gift, if we did something low key and then sent our dinner money to the fund for the families. 

https://newtown.uwwesternct.org/ 

I don't if the school staff needs help, but I also emailed the superintendent of Newtown to see if any of the teachers wanted help over vacation getting their classrooms back in order. I hope that I can help in some small, tangible way. 

I also was reading that the outpouring is so huge at the start, but that the families,survivors, and first responders will need help and support after all of the initial surge. I'm trying to think of ways to help once the  media push dies down. I'm thinking Valentine's Day, or perhaps Mother's/Father's Day--imagine how tough those days will be. I'm going to try and save these addresses of where to send things for the future and remind myself to do them. 


Cards for Newtown
8 Huntington Street
PMB 600
Shelton, CT 06484

sandyhookchristmas@gmail.com 

Sandy Hook Fire Department, Riverside Road, Sandy Hook, Ct 06482
Newtown Police Department, South Main Street, Newtown, Ct 06470

There were state troopers involved as well--wondering which barracks would have been involved.  

Any other ideas??
 

Questions I'm pondering

As we head into the week, these are the things that are entering my mind.

-Could something like this happen at my daughter's school? At my school?
-Will I be able to protect my students if something like this happened at my school?
-My classroom doors only lock from the outside. Will I be putting myself or students in harms way when I open my door to lock it?
-One of my classrooms is the first room next to an exterior door--does that mean we'd be the first ones hit?
-I have to think about what I'd do if I had 75 kids in the auditorium in this situation. 
-Will my students want to talk about this by the time I get to school? Or will all of their questions have been answered by then?
-Will I be able to get through rehearsing "Do Not Stand at my Grave" after school without totally losing it? 
-Will Lori's friends at school be talking about this? She basically knows that lots of kids "got hurt." I didn't want to scare her with details--she saw an image on TV of the firetrucks, so she thinks that there was a fire at a school. I wasn't about to correct her.

We are going about our normal routine, except that when the kids are napping, in bed, or I'm in the car the normal moments get interrupted by tears. I've lost loved ones and never been this affected. I guess all the people I have lost were ill or old and I knew that their time was near. Maybe it is because when your child is born, you see hope. You see their bright future ahead of them. You see them graduating college. Getting married. Having your grandchildren.

You don't imagine them being buried in the ground.You don't imagine having Christmas presents purchased and wrapped and then never be opened. This tragedy is making me visualize that for my kids, and it makes me so incredibly sad.

I'm trying to see the good things. The people that are coming together for the people who lost so much. How people are not just thinking about the victims and families, but are realizing the horror that this situation is for the first responders. My friend Liz posted addresses for the school and for the first responders so that people could send cards and good wishes. I saw another FB post that was talking about how another hospital's ER dept. sent Danbury Hospital's ER pizza for their staff. Those are little things, but they most definitely show kindness. That there is still good in the world.

Aching heart

When I first heard the news of the horrible tragedy in Newtown at school today, my first thought was about my own children. As a teacher, I know all of the precautions that we take for the safety of our students, and I hope that if (God forbid) we were in that situation, I would be able to be brave and protect my students like those amazing teachers in Newtown.

But as a mom, I just feel so scared for my children. I had to walk out of the lunchroom today after watching 5 minutes of the coverage. I just couldn't think about what it would be like if one of my children was in that classroom. We send our kids to schools that we think are safe, and then something like this happens and we question everything we know to be true. I found myself this evening feeling so blessed that I have these 2 beautiful children who are safe, but conflicted at the same time as I thought about those parents who would not be able to see their children.

My thoughts and prayers are with all of those families. 20 children, innocent babies senselessly killed. No one should have to endure something like this. Ever.

Lazy cooking

I am not the biggest fan of cooking. But I want to eat healthy food and I definitely want my kids to eat healthy food. So I have found ways to be "lazy" about my cooking so that we can eat healthy foods and I don't have to be standing over the stove every night.

Lazy cooking tip #1- Marry a man who likes to cook.
I am very lucky that my husband loves to cook. He likes to make all of the complicated stuff that I'm to lazy to make. However, because of his work schedule, he is only home for dinner on the weekends. He does most of the cooking then. He also will cook dinners on Monday nights and Friday nights when I have rehearsal and get home late. Nothing like walking in the door and all I have to do is take whatever is cooking out of the oven and put it on the table.

Lazy cooking tip #2- Pre-cook.
One of my favorite things to do is make a HUGE crockpot of salsa chicken. I give this recipe to everyone. It is one of the best things I got during my teaching experience in Hilliard, OH--an elementary classroom teacher gave it to me. I don't remember her name anymore, but I can clearly picture her red hair, adorable Southern accent, and her love of Elvis (her daughter's name was Presley).

Crockpot Salsa Chicken- 
4-6 boneless skinless chicken breasts--put them in the crock pot
dump 1 jar of salsa over them
Cook for 8-10 hours.
Shred.

I serve these in burrito shells with LOADS of chopped veggies, guacamole, and a little bit of sour cream.
I also freeze 2/3 of the chicken for future meals (cook 1x, use 3 times--my kind of cooking!).

I also enjoy browning a big package of ground beef or turkey and then dividing it up and freezing batches to put into recipes later. (Tacos, soup, meat sauce).

Lazy cooking tip #3-Steamed frozen veggies are often our side dishes.
 In the wintertime when I don't have a selection of veggies from our garden, I swear by steamed frozen veggies. No sauces, nothing fancy. Water in the pan, steam in the steamer. Easy peasy.

Lazy cooking tip #4-Chop more than you need, use it next time.
Using peppers for today and tomorrow's dinner? Chop enough for both one day, then the next day your prep work is done!

Lazy cooking tip #5- Store bought rotisserie chicken is my friend.
I will buy these all the time, and whatever we don't eat, I shred up and freeze for future meals. Chicken pot pie, chicken salad, chicken soup--I am not cooking my own chicken to make this.

Lazy cooking tip #6- Store bought chicken broth is my other friend.
I LOVE soup. I'm not making homemade broth. Too much work for me. So after I saute my veggies that I'm using for my soup, I throw in chicken (or beef depending on the soup) broth. Depending on the kind of soup I'm making, it can be done in 15-30 minutes with little prep. Just be careful that you aren't buying broth with MSG in it. Not good for you at all.

Here is my current favorite soup. My 3 year old will DEVOUR it (and this child is picky, but he will eat this).
Spinach soup
I also make a butternut squash soup in a similar way, I just take out the milk and substitute butternut squash for the spinach.

Lazy cooking tip #7-Can we say LEFTOVERS?!
I really try hard to make a large enough amount of food so that I have leftovers to eat another day and can freeze some if it will freeze well. The microwave is a lazy girl's best friend!

What are your lazy cooking tips?

The best thing I can do for my kids.....

As a teacher, I feel like my role is to teach my students to be independent learners. I want them to be able to look at a piece of music and be able to figure out for themselves what the notes sound like. I want them to listen to a recording and be able to assess what they are hearing so that they can improve. Well, I feel like my most important job as a mom is to give my kids independence as well.

My husband works 2nd shift and has since my daughter was born 5 years ago,so during the week I am on my own getting dinner ready and doing the bedtime routine.When I had a 2 year old and an infant, it was miserable. My a-ha moment came when Lori was 3 and went to preschool. Her wonderful teacher loves getting the kids to do as much as they can themselves, even if it is messy. Kids pour their own milk and juice at snack, put their own snow pants and jackets on and off, and sweep up cornmeal when they are done at the sensory table.

Once I saw how truly capable she could be, even at barely 3, I decided that I was going to put her to work, and Hunter once he was old enough. Before dinner each night, I set the plates on the counter, and they put them on the table. They figure out what utensils we need based on what we are eating and get those out of the drawers themselves. If they want  ketchup, butter, sour cream, etc... they get it out of the fridge. They can get themselves a cup of water when they are thirsty. And when dinner is done, they clear their own plates, scrape leftovers into the compost or garbage and help put things back.

There are other tasks that they do as well (load/unload dishwasher, put clothes away, etc). Does it make my life a little harder at first to teach them these skills? Yes. Do they spill things sometimes? Sure. But to see them so proud of themselves because they are contributing to the household tasks makes it all worth it. I'm hoping that by starting them early, I won't have fights over it when they are bigger because the behaviors will be automatic.

As much as it is hard not having my husband here to do the evening routine with me, it really has helped me to make my kids way more independent than I probably would have if we were both home at night. It is one of the many blessings that has come out of this crazy schedule we live!

Healthy Eating

Here are my kids at a local fruit orchard, Lyman Orchards, in Middlefield, CT. This is one of many different orchards/farms we have been to in the local area to show kids where their food really comes from. My kids not only pick the fruit, but they eat as they go. On a blueberry picking excursion, I think all of my son's blueberries went in his belly instead of his bucket!

I know a lot of people buy organic, and while I would LOVE to, it just is not in our budget to do that. I'm pretty proud of the fact that we rarely have junk food in our house and are really careful about how often our kids have treats, and when they get  treat, how much they get. I've been known to say "you get 5 MnMs because you are 5."  I also once flipped out at my mom in front of my entire family because she was letting my daughter eat cookies one holiday but she hadn't eaten her real food! Anyway, we are big on lots of veggies and fruits and rarely do we have "prepared foods" for our meals. Frozen veggies and instant brown rice, yes, frozen meals, no.

In the interest of health and supporting local business, I have been wanting to join a CSA for awhile, and because of some other things that came up, was unable to do it... until now! I was really excited to find out that a farm stand (Fair Weather Acres)within 5 minutes from my house was offering shares and half-shares. What I'm most excited about (besides the fact that it is really close to my house) is that besides offering veggies from their farm, they are also including fruit from local orchards in their offerings each week.

I always wanted to be able to support local agriculture, but the cost always kept me from buying at farmer's markets. When I look at the cost of the CSA and all that I would get, even in a half-share, it seems way worth it. Between the CSA and our own garden, we are going to have some awesome summer and fall of healthy food at a great price!

Being thrifty

When I went back to work full-time after my daughter was born, I made the decision very quickly that I needed to find someway to work part-time. My husband was working second shift, and basically we were both feeling like single parents. By the time I came home from work, which several days a week was late because of rehearsals and meetings, some days I saw my daughter for only 2 hours before it was bedtime for her, and as you can imagine, most of that time was feeding, bathing, etc instead of real quality time.

My wonderful supervisor and principal at the time found a way to make it work for me and I was very grateful. My husband and I immediately started putting away the money we would "not have" to get used to living that way. We were great--I was always a sale and coupon girl anyway.

Then my son was born, and when he was 3 months old, my hubby was laid off. He got paid his full salary for awhile, so we were okay. But when he got another job that would accommodate 2nd shift work, it paid SIGNIFICANTLY less.

So saving a few bucks anyway we could became extremely important for us to get by.

Here are some ways that we have saved money:

The lowest possible cable plan (could we get rid of cable totally--we'd survive, but since we rarely go anywhere unless it is free or cheap, this is our only entertainment for the most part).

Lowest possible land line --no long distance, no call waiting, no caller id, etc..(all of our long distance is on our cell phones--some people get rid of landlines, but with our children, we feel like we need to have a landline)

Having an energy audit through CL and P. For $75, they came and inspected our home and installed caulk, low flow shower heads, CFLs (although we mostly had those already), and gave us specific ways to better insulate and be more energy efficient in our home. Our water bill is ridiculously low due to this and installing 2 low flow toilets in our house.
 http://www.cl-p.com/home/saveenergy/rebates/homeenergysolutions.aspx

Reducing the amount of money spent on gifts. I feel SO incredibly guilty that we have to cheap out on gifts for family and friends, but I refuse to go into credit card debt because I HAVE to spent the same amount on someone's wedding gift that they did on me. I'm also not going to choose between buying groceries for the week and buying an extravagant gift for someone.

No smartphones in this house. Would a smartphone be awesome? Sure. I already hate paying what we do for our cellphones, and I really don't want to pay $30-$50 more a month so that I can email someone or check my Facebook when I can just wait the 2 hours until I get home. Nothing is that important that I can't wait to find out about it--if it was, people would call me and tell me that way.

No longer coloring my hair. This isn't as bad as it sounds. I just couldn't tell my husband to lay off of Dunkin' Donuts, and then spend $100 every time I go to the salon.

Finding freebies. My current favorite freebie is that JC Penney is giving kids free haircuts on Sundays. On my son only, this is saving me $15-$18 a month alone!

Making my own laundry detergent, cleaning products, and dishwasher detergent. This is partially me wanting to be green without spending big bucks. Here are the sites where I found my recipes.
Laundry detergent--it works well and satisfies my laziness.
Cleaning products--this link is for kitchen cleaners, but you can also search for bathroom cleaners, too.
Dishwasher detergent-I love that when I run low, I have my big containers of everything needed to mix it up and I don't have to take a trip to the store.

Freezer meals. We rarely order take-out. I really try to freeze meals ahead of time if I know it is going to be busy, or even just cook part of the meal ahead and freeze (ex. brown ground beef or turkey ahead of time, freeze, then just add to the recipe at a later date). If I have leftovers and I know we aren't going to use them soon, I freeze them in individual portions. Busy night, or don't have time to make lunch, I can just grab what I need instead of ordering take-out. Healthier food, too! I also do things like bake a batch of brownies or cookies and freeze 2/3 of the batch. This way, we eat what we want that night, and instead of eating the rest of them or throwing them away after they get stale, I'm saving money and thinking about eating in moderation. 

I'm saving money many other ways as well, but this is just a little taste of my thriftiness.