Crossing the Line

This morning my kids started school.    Everyone was very excited for their first day back from summer break. This year is different, though, we didn't pre-pay for the year's school lunches as we usually do.  Why?  Because the Government has decided  to step in and say what my child can and cannot eat in it's attempt to solve the obesity epidemic.  Well, that may be fine and good, but my kids are all underweight and need as many calories that they can get. I do have to state, that I am not a health food nut, I just think that there should be moderation... If we have soda in the house it is usually for floats.  If there are Chips, then we are probably having hamburgers or something.  I haven't banned white bread, but I do make my kids eat their veggies, and try to have balanced home cooked meals.

 I talked about the school lunch situation with my kids over the summer.  My youngest was very sad that the school would no longer be having the chocolate cake that he loved, (despite the rumors that it contained broccoli) and had vowed to bring his own chocolate cake to school.  My Oldest that spent some time in Europe this summer, said that Lunch should taste good, have fresh fruits and veggies, Artisan breads, meat,cheese and some sort of delectable dessert (a small piece) .  She is right, though, There is something in your brain that  NEEDS nutritious filling food that tastes good and satisfies.  There is nothing like eating something that tastes good and being able to say to yourself, "Mmmmmm that was good... now I can get back to my day."

Off to school with lunch bags and water bottles

I found an article that lets me know that I'm the only one that doesn't like this new plan.  TIME article: Parents, Principals Don't like School Lunch Rules

Personally, in schools around here I don't see an obesity epidemic. It would appear that most parents are doing their jobs and teaching their kids how to eat right and stay active.  I think that if school lunch tastes bad that kids are more likely to pick at their lunch, throw most of it away,  and then by the time they get home they are so hungry that they will reach for any easily available food that there is.  If there are chips, sodas, and sweets at home this is what will be consumed rapidly, in large quantities, because they are so famished.  So in my opinion, this plan of the governments to make kids healthy will backfire.  Me?  I will let my kids choose if they want to eat a home packed lunch, or  eat school lunch, but it sure is sad ther there is no more dessert.

Silver Lining

My brother gave me this frame a few years ago and I finally descided to do something with it.  It was very dated bright gold with flecks of red, so I descided to tone it down with a can of silver spray paint, a can of hammered brown spray paint, and some brown shoe polish.  Horray for spray paint!

Much too dated

A little silver added

Here is a $2.99 clock I made over with spray paint and a digital scrapbooking clock face Designer Digitals that I printed out.  It was for an "on time" award for girls camp, but I'm thinking I should make one for my house.

IKEA  clock makeover using Digital Scrapbook clock face

Here is another spray paint makeover:  I needed a chair for photography, and my kids had pretty much beaten up and abandoned this one.

beat up old chair

small scaled and perfect match to my background



Country Time

Dusk at the rodeo

I took my girls (and friends) to the Famous Preston Rodeo.  It was great fun to dress the part and be cowgirls for a day.


Horray For Smith&Edwards.. we look like cowgirls



Check out our boots!

Go Go Gadgets

I really like how you can have "Gadgets" on your desktop in Windows 7.  I love the Facebook Gadget that lets me see what all the new posts are without having to log in all of the time, and I can quickly "like" and comment on things without having to log in.  I also LOVE the Pandora gadget as I like to have a variety of music available at my fingertips.  The clock one is practical, and for some reason someone put the CPU usage one up and I never took it down.  The kids thought it was hilarious when they downloaded the "HAL" Gadget and like to randomly push the Hal button and get the Computer from the movie " 2010 a Space Odyssey" to say random things from the movie.
  I recently purchased a number of wireless Sony S-air speakers and have placed them throughout my home so that I may enjoy music, Recorded books and such throughout my home.  My younger two kids had the idea that I should play what we refer to as "sleepy time music" when it was time to go to bed.  New age and instrumental stuff that is relaxing.  This worked pretty well, except I thought it would be great to find a gadget that was a timer that turned off the computer.  It was a good idea in theory.  It was pretty easy to find a gadget online, download and install it.  I entered the countdown  and selected the sleepy station I had set up in Pandora.  This was going to be great.  I could slip into bed, relax and the computer would turn itself off in half an hour.  Soon I was drifting off to sleep in a calm and soothing musical environment breathing deeply and being nearly engulfed in waves of sleep.

BWEEP BWEEP BWEEP BWEEP BWEEP!!!!! Sirens like something from a star Trek episode made me jump out of bed looking for attacking Klingon's.  The darn timer had an alarm to warn that it was about ready to shut down It was about three times the volume of the music playing.  So much for drifting off to a sound slumber.
 

Seeing Clearly Again

I finally took Natalie in to the eye doctor last month (she had been squinting alot) and her glasses came today.  Horray!!! she wanted these new ones that you can turn the sides to show a different design.  What will they think of next!

Click photo to see what the other design is 

I think it is good to get a clear perspective on the world once in a while and see things as they really are.