Wednesday, April 25, 2012

CleanUp: Spot Free Bathroom Mirrors

Ok kids, time for a simple cleaning tip from the queen of lazy. Seriously. I love a clean house. I do. But I also love not spending all day cleaning said house.  Have you seen those commercials lately with the women cleaning house with some wonder product duster or mop or broom, and they are finished so quickly that they have time to read a book or take a bath or sit on the porch? Yeah. THIS is my goal. Because, let's face it, we would all rather read a book than clean the house, but the house must get clean.

Today's Lazy Trick: Bathroom mirrors. I have never witnessed this, but I am pretty sure that at least one of my children prefers to spit the toothpaste directly AT the mirror rather than in the sink. Maybe they like the pretty pictures, I don't know. And trust me when I say that I have tried all of the store bought products, and the homemade cleaners and have found the thing that works the best and the fastest. Water. Yes, moms and dads, just plain water. I have a sink in every bathroom, so it makes this job easy.

Step one: Run your hand under the water.
Step two: Splash the water on the offending areas of the mirror.
Step three: Wipe clean with a good quality microfibre cloth.
Step Four: There is no step four because you are done. Go read a book.

I promise that this works even for toothpaste that goes directly from the tube to the mirror without the benefit of dilution in the child's mouth. I have yet to figure out how or why this happens, but happen it does. This cleaning method can handle hair spray as well, but may take two tries. No more spray bottles or streaks or smelly cleansers. Just clean mirrors in about 20 seconds. You're Welcome.

Quote of the Day: "My second favorite household chore is ironing.  My first being hitting my head on the top bunk bed until I faint."  ~Erma Bombeck

Monday, April 23, 2012

EatUp: Trail Mix Bars

FOOD


I fall off the wagon on a regular basis. Lately I have not bothered to get back on. Which seems ridiculous because I know how much better I feel when I eat healthy, which for my body means real food, lots of it, and very little processed crap. It just seems that one little bit of crap turns into a bigger bit which turns into "hand over that pan of brownies and no one loses a limb." They know I am serious. The proof is in the fact that all of my children still have all of their limbs.  


In all seriousness, I do try to make snacks that will satisfy the munchies and the sweet tooth, but keep us all on track for good nutrition and fuel the bod with more than just empty calories and carbs.  Thus the Trail Mix bar was born. Be careful though. Not all trail mix is created equal. I am a nut and seed girl. You cannot go wrong with these in my opinion, but dried fruits pack a huge punch when it comes to sugars. Use those sparingly in your trial mix and don't add extras like candy. Candy next to a nut is still candy. Except peanut M n' M's. Those are a vegetable. I totally kid.


Recipe:


Mix together your choice of nuts and seeds and dried fruit to equal about 3 cups.
(I think I had peanuts, almonds, sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, pecans, walnuts and some raisins)
Add in a cup of oats.
Heat slowly a cup of good quality peanut butter (no sugar please) and a 1/2 cup of honey in a saucepan. Let it get bubbly and gooey. Pour it over the trail mix and stir till it is all coated with the goo. Press that into a pan and allow to cool. Cut into bars and wrap individually for lunches or snacks on the go. Or do like I did and leave in on the counter and watch it disappear before you get a chance to wrap it up, which is why there are no pictures!


Enjoy! Linking up today with my friend Stephanie's amazing blog.


Quote of the Day: "“Do you know what breakfast cereal is made of? It's made of all those little curly wooden shavings you find in pencil sharpeners!” --Roald Dahl

Tuesday, April 17, 2012

SpeakUP: It Is Now Or Never

Photo Credit:Reuters.com
I thought that my first post of my new "Up Up And Away" Manifesto of last week would be something of an up beat, friendly nature. You know, sassy sarcasm and a bit of fun loving sap,  but I find that today, I am sad. And a little scared. And just a tiny bit pissed off.

As the mother of a boy who has had little but a future in aerospace in the works for 17 years, it breaks my heart to see the era of America's greatness in space exploration coming to an end for now. Not because I am doleful for this son and his future career (or lack of one), but because of what it means for America. The end of this era of greatness for the U.S. seems to me a metaphor for what my lie ahead. I hope it is not so, but it seems a harbinger for the decline of this great country into mediocrity.

This is not about partisanship. This is about saving this nation. OUR nation. It will take each of us, regardless of party politics and media vitriol, to stand up individually and collectively and say that mediocrity is not an option. If we as a people and as a nation are to be great again, we must desire greatness and then fight to achieve greatness. This will not be done by relying on other nations to transport our astronauts to the ISS, and it will not be done by relying on the government to create jobs or wealth or anything else. It will take Americans. Americans who care about America. Who want it to be great. Who themselves create wealth and prosperity. We will have to do it by going back. Back to basics. Back to the family. Back to God. Back to the founding principles prescribed in The Constitution. WE THE PEOPLE IN ORDER TO FORM A MORE PERFECT UNION. Perfect? No. More perfect? Hell Yes.

I am afraid that if we do not, and soon, that this is the beginning of the end. We will witness the decline of this nation as we know it. I for one do not want to see that happen. It is time to speak up.

      "There is no strife, no prejudice, no national conflict in outer space as yet. Its hazards are hostile to us all. Its conquest deserves the best of all mankind, and its opportunity for peaceful cooperation may never come again. But why, some say, the moon? Why choose this as our goal? And they may well ask why climb the highest mountain? Why, 35 years ago, fly the Atlantic?
      We choose to go to the moon. We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard, because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one which we intend to win, and the others, too.
      It is for these reasons that I regard the decision last year to shift our efforts in space from low to high gear as among the most important decisions that will be made during my incumbency in the office of the Presidency." 
--John F. Kennedy 1962
The space race was not a matter of showboating or earning bragging rights. It was about achieving greatness and about freedom. A few weeks after this very famous speech in Houston, the president addressed a joint session of congress and, in a speech directed at defense and foreign policy, told congress and all Americans that "If we are to win the battle that is now going on around the world between freedom and tyranny, the dramatic achievements in space which occurred in recent weeks should have made clear to us all, the impact of this adventure on the minds of men everywhere, who are attempting to make a determination of which road they should take... Now it is time to take longer strides–time for a great new American enterprise–time for this nation to take a clearly leading role in space achievement, which in many ways may hold the key to our future on earth.


It is time folks. Time to speak up. It is now or never.


Quote of the Day: "Patriotism is easy to understand in America; it means looking out for yourself by looking out for your country."-- Calvin Coolidge

Wednesday, April 11, 2012

Up Up And Away

The letter U today is brought to you by NatureGirl, blogger most ordinary, in cooperation with Mrs. Matlock's school for the alphabetically inspired, under the direction of Off On My Tangent. Our word today is. UP. Before I recently changed the layout of this blog, I had a little sidebar with links and quotes to all kinds of things that I find interesting or that had to do with the blog. ReadUP, for instance had book recommendations. CookUp, a few recipes or links to good ones. UPDog featured some favorite quotes from yogis or perhaps an asana I might be working on. Stuff like that. But the truth of the matter is, that I am quite lazy and would often neglect to UPdate those little snippets often enough. I got bored with the layout, and the blog stagnated. This is a problem I often have. Go gung-ho until I get tired and then stagnate. Fizzle. But I actually really do love blogging. It is a great outlet for me and I have time for it in this stage of my life. I do not know how those of you with little kids do it. Hats off to you!

But I would like to get out of my rut. Therefore, I am thinking about a little revamp. Not that anyone out there cares, but I am hoping that it will help inspire me to focus on what I am doing. I am so scatterbrained sometimes, I feel like the blog has no direction. Is this a yoga blog? A food blog? Nutrition, gardening, health? What? What are you "about" blog?! But, here is the thing, like onions and ogres and parfait, I have layers. I have lots of things that I am interested in and feel passionately about and goodness knows I love to blab about all of the above, so why not a blog with layers?!

That is where UP comes back into play. My goal is to focus my posts around those things that I love but in a more organized, structured and orderly manner instead of the haphazardness that is usually me, and consequently the blog. All of those random sidebar thoughts could be turned into posts that might actually have meaning in some unplanned, accidental way. It is like rolling with the punches, but with a plan. Does that make sense? Probably not, but that is pretty normal around here! Up Up and AWAY!

Quote of the Day: "Progress always involves risks. You cannot steal second base and keep your foot on first!"--Frederick Wilcox