Wordless Wednesday - My Baby Brother and my Baby Girl

Tuesday Teaser - Boys in Crisis (possibly controversial)

I haven't done one of these in a while so I thought I would try to get back into it.  However, I'm reading several books at one time so I'm not getting very far in any of them very quickly. I think I'll try to "tease" one each week for a few weeks perhaps.  Maybe this will tease myself into reading them more!  LOL

Today's tease is from a professional book, but if you have sons it would be worth a look as well.  I'm a teacher so this is quite relevant to me.

HEAR OUR CRY: BOYS IN CRISIS is all about how to reach boys and young men in a meaningful and relevant way.  Here are my two sentences from a random page (I just started reading it so I think the book automatically fell open to a page close to the beginning):

"Statistics on boys and men reflect the results of a society that has ignored the social and emotional life of boys.  To disregard the impact of these myths on young males is to put them in a decidedly weakened position to succeed personally, professionally, and emotionally (not to mention life expectancy: U.S. women on average outlive U.S. men by about five years). "  pg. 3

In my county, school starts back on August 9th. I would love to have read a good portion of this book by then in order to see what strategies I can implement to reach all of my students; male and female, exceptional ed and general ed, high achieving and low.

What are your thoughts?  Are our boys in a crisis?  The author states that they are being stereotyped as women were in the past as they are expected to hide their emotions, be tough, and "be a man"?  He also states that more fathers show up to support their sons in sporting events than school evens (such as Honor Roll ceremonies) giving them the impression that it is more important for males to be athletic than smart.  Do you agree that our boys are in crisis? Do you agree with this quote from the book? (Remember, if you have nothing nice to say, don't say anything at all! Discussion and respectully disagreeing is fine, insults are not)

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

• Grab your current read
• Let it open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

Related articles by Zemanta

• Our male identity crisis: What will happen to men? (psychologytoday.com)

Menu Plan Monday

Check out Orgjunkie.com for more menus!

Last Week's Menu:

Meal 1: Breakfast for Dinner (eggs, turkey bacon, fruit salad) One of my favorite dinners is breakfast!  Hubby had an omlet and I opted for good ol' scrambled eggs.  This was Thursday

Meal 2: Parmesan Chicken with Garlic and Herbs, Veggie (whatever we have - peas, green beans, corn...) Right before I took these out of the oven on Friday, I laid a slice of provolone cheese over each and warmed up some maranara sauce to put over them.  We coupled the chicken with salads.  Yum! :)

Meal 3: Shrimp Kabobs on the grill (shrimp, red peppers, green peppers, zucchini, whatever we find to put on them), and grilled corn on the cob We had these on Tuesday and they were YUMMY!!  The Grill Master (AKA Hubby) outdid himself with this tasty - and healthy- meal!
Meal 4: Lemon Chicken on the grill, and Herb Roasted Veggies Never did the Lemon Chicken, but did do the Herb Roasted Veggies with the London Broil on Sunday.  Not bad!  I think I like the Roasted Broccoli better but these were pretty tasty too!
Meal 5: London Broil on the grill with a spinach salad  Hubby Grilled up the London Broil on Sunday after marinating it all night - Yummos!
Meal 6: Probably another CORN night on the weekend CORN night ended up being Monday and Wednesday. Monday to make room for the groceries we bought, and Wednesday to accomodate a crazy schedule.

**Added meal** Saturday night rather than grilling we stir fried some green, yellow, and red pepers with onions and sausage and whole wheat spaghetti noodles (It's what we had lol).  It turned out pretty good :)


This Week's Menu:
We are doing something a little different this week.  Instead of buying anything, we are going to try to use up whatever we have in the fridge/freezer/pantry and clean it out a little.  I've seen several frugal/cooking/etc blogs with an eat-from-what-you-have type of challenge so I thought I'd give it a shot this week. There are 2 main reasons for this.

1. We're trying to save money and would rather spend our grocery money on other things this week and...
2. We are running out of room to store things in the fridge/freezer/pantry so there MUST be too much stuff in there!

I know we have some frozen chicken, shrimp, and beef so that is on the menu.  We also have canned veggies galore (both in our pantry as well as in our survival/emergancy store that we need to rotate through).  There's pasta and rice in the pantry for sure and even though we are trying to watch carbs, we still use some of these.  There's also about 4 boxes of Hamburger Helper to choose from as well. I have some left over fruit and veggies from this past week's grocery shopping that will be used first so that we don't have to throw anything out.  The only thing I can foresee us needing to get at the grocery store this week is maybe some more fresh veggies and fruit - but then again we may be able to work it with just what we have canned and frozen. I just bought milk (skim and almond) a few days ago so we should be good there.

•  Cheesy Chicken and Rice Casserole
• Maybe even Parmesan Chicken with Garlic and Herbs again as it is really yummy! 
• I know there is some frozen Tempura Shrimp so we may have to do an Asian night and break out the chopsticks we have left over from Japan.
• Hamburger Helper one night
• We have Spaghetti that I can make also
• Other than that it may be just simply grilling/baking the meat (Chicken and/or shrimp) and adding a veggie.
• Saturday: Definately eating out this night.  My baby step-brother is having his Eagle Ceremony for Boy Scouts!  YAY  Proud of him!  That makes My Grandpa (my mom's dad), my biological dad, my uncles (My mom's brothers), my brothers (two of them), and my cousin Josh all Eagle Scouts. It's become a family tradition :)

Somewhere around here I have a cookbook called "A Man, A Can, and A Plan" that has recipes with simple ingredients such as "a can of this" or "a bottle of that" that can usually be found in every house.  I may have a look in there and see what I come up with once I figure out what is lurking in the back of the freezer/pantry (If it's lurking in the back of the fridge then it probably isn't fit for ANY kind of recipe other than a science experiment - and I still have a few weeks before school starts back up!)

My other baby brother (The other Eagle Scout) is coming to stay with us one night this week, so that night we may go out to dinner - or Bubby may want to stay in, who knows with a 19 year old Navy kid!  He's going to spend a few days with us, a few days with our sister in Orlando, a while with mom, then a few days with his dad.  He only has 2 weeks leave so he has to split his time wisely!  Glad he's coming to stay with us a while -- I've missed him now that he's all grown up and on the other side of the country!  He's coming back to see Carl recieve his Eagle, and to present it to him :) (Yes, I just got goosebumps thinking about it...so proud!!)

I'm also stocked up on healthy snacks.  Fruit of course, but also cereal bars, Sugar Free Jello, Real Fruit Bites from Dole, apple sauce, and I think there are some Craisins in there somewhere too.

Feeding Four is giving away cool fruit pouches from Peter Rabbit Organics that would make great snacks!  You should check them out.

My "normal" recipes are found HERE
And OrgJunkie always has some great menu ideas on Mondays!

What's on your menu for the week?

Twitter

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Feeding Four is giving away lots of stuff this week!  Everyday this week she will be giving away something different. 

Monday Was:  Ernie's Salsa. 
Tuesday is Peter Rabbit Organics


Go check it out...and check back every day this week!  I will update this post daily for all the giveaways and add the links to the individual give-away pages in my sidebar so make sure you check it!

Fitness Friday #6

Weigh-in:
Dear Bathroom Scale,
I'm not talking to you again until you play nice!
Sincerely,
Nicole


and his answer is.....


195.0


WHOOO HOOOOO


Dear Bathroom Scale,
Thank you!  Are we good now?
Your Friend,
Nicole

Last Week's Goals/Results: 2/4

Re-run week 6 of the C25K. Ran Week 6 Day 1 on Saturday and again on Monday, took a 1.5 hour hike through a nature preserve with the family on Tuesday Morning. Days 2 and 3 on Wednesday and Friday as I was supposed to! :)



Keep up the good work with the Vitamins. Forgot Most of the week :(


Log my food at least 4/7 days. I only logged 3 days this week


Read a book/take some pictures/do something fun for me once a day. Saturday: Caught up on a guilty pleasure (The Vampire Diaries), Sunday: took a nap and let the dishes sit in the sink, Monday: Read some of "Murder Most Royal", Tuesday: Took a hike with the family through a local nature preserve,  Wednesday: took a bubble bath, Thursday: Watched a movie (Percy Jackson and the Olympians), Friday: Shopping/lunch with a friend.
 
Evaluation of the Week:
 
I didn't do nearly as well on my goals as I had hoped but apparently I still lost.  Perhaps it was because of the carb-cutting. I'm not sure because I didn't log ...  sigh.

This Week's Goals:

Pretty much the same as last week...

• Continue with C25K. Week 7 here I come!
• Log 4/7 days.
• Take my vitamins.
• De-stress by doing something for myself each day.

Give Aways!

I added a section on my sidebar (Over there ------> below my quotes) for contests and give aways.  You should go check it out! Most of them are running/workout related but not all.  Legacy of Home is giving away healthy snacks.  Nuu Muus can be used for anything - heading to the coffee shop or running - and two sites are offeing give aways for those.  GoLite has some awesome stuff that you should check out too.  So what are you waiting for..go check them out!

I'll show you mine...

Marlene over at Mission to A(nother) Marathon offered to show us her if we showed her ours (medals that is)... so without further adu, here is my current collection:

It's rather small compared to Marlene's but I'm proud of them!

Marlene also asked which ones are our favorites and why.   Hmmmm....

My San Diego Rock and Roll Marathon metal is special because it was the first marathon I ever completed.  I ran it with the help of the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society's Team in Training program which raises money to help LLS fund it's caner research as well as help the patients.

And of course my Mickeys!  Who doesn't want to run 26 miles through Disney? (Really, you don't?  huh... why not?)

I have to add these too.  They are age group medals from a local 10K back home put on by the father of a friend of mine who was/is a marathon runner.  He got cancer and now uses these runs to raise money for The American Cancer Society.  I'm proud to run in it yearly!  One is 2nd in my age group and the other is 3rd in my age group.

Then of course there is my one and only Olympic triathlon medal.  The Disney Tri (Which they don't do anymore - this was the last year they did it.  They still do tris but not THIS one!)

Which only leaves one.  I don't want to say it isn't special, but it isn't as cool or meaningful to me as the others, though I'm still proud of it.

And like Marlene, I don't really have a good way to store most of my medals (hers are in a shoebox - all 26 of them!).  Should I hang them all?  Put them on display?  Would I even have a place to display each of them individually?  I do have one displayed individually in the guest room.  My first medal.  The San Diego Rock and Roll marathon.  I have it hanging on a nail next to a framed (and signed) poster of a painting inspired by and painted just for the 2006 marathon.

But the rest are just stored on a short shelf in the guest room.

So what about you?  How do you, or do you, display your medals/awards/accomplishments (running or otherwise)?

Dear Grocery Store,

I've been working hard to make healthy choices.  I've visited your fresh fruit and veggie section more lately than I ever have and I am learning to love all of your choices of good-for-me foods.  Even in the organic/tofu section.

However, WHY OH WHY would you label "Assorted Fruit Slices" as such?  A more appropriate name would be "Fruit Flavored Sugar."  Furthermore, what possessed you to place them next to the more nutritious foods, specifically the dried fruit that I am fond of having as an easy to grab snack.

Are you trying to sabotage my diet?

Sincerely,
Me

Menu Planning Monday

Last Week's Menu/Results:

Monday: My Favorite Meatloaf, green beans  Made the meatloaf (used Italian spice mix instead of garlic powder because I didn't have any.  Yes, I know, everyone is shocked that I altered a recipe and it turned out OK but it really did!) but instead of green beans, I made Roasted Broccoli. It was very yummy but I think I used too much broccoli without increasing the other ingredients.  I also forgot to add the parm. cheese.  However, it was still yummy and definitely going to be made again!

Tuesday: Cheesy Crock Pot Chicken, green beans Turned out very yummy!  Hubby thought the cheese sauce would be good with the broccoli from the day before so he threw some leftover broccoli on it as well.  Definitely Yum!  The soups in the sauce made this full of sodium but knowing that I really watched what I ate the rest of the day in order to be able to "afford" it.
Wednesday: CORN/fend for yourself Hubby was off doin' his thang so I had some left over chicken and a yogurt.
Thursday: Broccoli, Ham, and Cheese casserole I forgot to get some of what I needed for the casserole so we zoomed ahead and made the hamburgers with a salad instead.
Friday: Breakfast for dinner - omelets, English muffins, turkey bacon Hubby wanted to grill Pork Chops instead so we had lemon pepper pork chops and mixed veggies. 
Saturday: Zesty BBQ Chicken sandwiches, baked beans I made the Broccoli, Ham, and Cheese Casserole - Yummy!  I was even able to pull some of it out for Baby Girl and she ate with us :)
Sunday: Hamburgers, Cucumber salad  Made the Zesty BBQ Chicken sandwiches in the crock pot.  YUMMY!  We decided that the chicken would also be good over mashed potatoes...maybe we'll try that next time :)

This week's menu plan:
After a disappointing weigh-in on Friday, Hubby talked me into trying to cut some carbs. I'm usually against no/low carb diets (for myself - I've seen other people have success but it isn't typically something I want to do for ME.  I want to change my lifestyle and no/low carbs isn't a way that I could live so I don't want to do it now.  However....) We looked at some of the reports that I can run with my food diary and noticed that I'm still eating like I am in serious training for a marathon - almost always 50% or more of my cals are from carbs.  Great when you are running 50+ miles a week...not so great when you are lucky to get in 8 miles a week!  We decided that for this week we are going to cut back on carbs then slowly increase them back up a bit to a reasonable amount.  I LOVE bread and pasta so this is going to be interesting...

I also decided that since there isn't anything special planned for this week that I'm not going to worry so much about what day we eat what - other than Wednesday in which schedules are all crazy.  That is a dedicated CORN* night!

Meal 1: Breakfast for Dinner (eggs, turkey bacon, fruit salad) I LOVE breakfast for dinner and since we didn't get to have it this past week... I WANT IT!  haha
Meal 2: Parmesan Chicken with Garlic and Herbs, Veggie (whatever we have - peas, green beans, corn...)
Meal 3: Shrimp Kabobs on the grill (shrimp, red peppers, green peppers, zucchini, whatever we find to put on them), and grilled corn on the cob
Meal 4: Lemon Chicken on the grill, and Herb Roasted Veggies
Meal 5: London Broil on the grill with a spinach salad
Meal 6: Probably another CORN night on the weekend

As you can see, Hubby will be doing a lot of grilling - this was his idea!  LOL  Fine by me!  Let the Grillmaster take over :)

I've also picked up some stuff for Lunches:
Yogurt Chicken Salad  I can make wraps or just put it over lettuce
Deli Creations Cracker Combinations (Oscar Meyer)
Fruit Salad
Spinach Salad
May even make a shake once or twice (yogurt, milk, fruit.... whatever I have to throw in the blender)

And some snacks:
Fresh fruit (apples, strawberries, grapes, watermelons)
Dried fruit (Craisins, pineapple, mango)
Crackers, banana peppers, and cheese (Sounds like a strange combo but...YUMMM)
Celery (with low-fat ranch dressing or peanut butter)
Greek Yogurt (Fage)

*CORN= Clean Out the Refrigerator Night
**All of my "usual" recipes (and a few that I haven't tried but want to) can be found HERE.
***Check out orgjunkie.comhttp://orgjunkie.com/2010/07/menu-plan-monday-july-19th.html for even more ideas!!