Our Senses, Part 4: Tasty!

Wow, this is long overdue! Back in November, I was teaching Maddie about the five senses. Then Christmas happened and I never got around to finishing. If you're keeping score, we've already learned about sight, hearing, smell and touch.
So that left the greatest sense of all- taste! And oh, the possibilities were endless.




We have an awesome grocery store called Wegmans that has a make-your-own granola bar. So we went through the bar, picking some things we loved and some we've never tried before.




Then we sort edit out.




Let the tasting begin!




As we tasted we started talking about how things taste. I started by giving an example of something salty and something sweet, and then asked if we could find other things that tasted similar.




We knew when we made that face that we had eaten something bitter or sour.




As we tried things out, we put like with like.




Until we had a little taste chart.




Then we mixed it all up and added some homemade granola for a somewhat healthy (mostly m&m) treat.

Princess Day!

Those of you who have a little girl in your household probably know that it was Princess Week on Disney Junior last week. Confession: PBS has pretty much been replaced by Disney in this house. I'm a little sad about it. I HATE Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. I think it actually uneducates as you watch it. But Disney does have some cute and fun options. I'm fairly sure that Maddie could actual treat patients with the knowledge she's gotten from Doc McStuffins (I had no clue what that thing that doctors use to look in your ears was. It's an odoscope, folks.) or save the underwater sealife with a pirate accent (Octonauts have taught me all about snot sea cucumbers and so much more!)

So, yes, we watch Disney Junior and we were particularly interested in last week's special princess theme. They showed lots of princess movies including Cinderella III (a surprisingly good movie!) We were a little excited about all the offerings. Of course, we had to do something to celebrate.




Yes, we princessed it up as we prepared to watch Cinderella III.




A scrolled invitation...



A tea party...



And of course, a special princess dress. This beauty was my mother's confirmation dress and my play dress as a child. It's sadly disintegrating in my very hands, but it will survive one more princess. With a little bit of thread here and there.







Glass slippers, just what every princess needs.

Deconstructed Family

Remember last year when I promised to take a family photo every month? Yeah, that was a really good idea. Too bad, I didn't do it!

So guess what, I'm resolving to do it in 2013. Here we go!



January 2013

Rob wanted a Polaroid camera this Christmas and I wanted to see his eyes light up on Christmas morning, so he got one! Rob loves to let Maddie take photos. Which has led to a lot of Outkast in this house.

But it's also led to this fun, deconstructed family photo.

Resolutions for my Work Life

I really try never to talk about work on my blog, because I've heard all the horror stories and lived one (despite my vigilance).




Work is a part of who I am. It's a part of who we all are, really. I'm a part-timer, but I still spend roughly half my day working. That's why I've always believed I should do something I love and also share it with the people I love.
You've already seen some of my resolutions that talk about how I'll reconcile work with my personal life, but here are a few work resolutions -- all non-job specific-- that I'm committed to doing this year.
Resolutions for a Better Work Day:
1. Keep a work journal. One of the worst bosses I ever had once made me do this and I hated it. But after several years away from that awful work situation, I'm starting to see the merit of this one idea (and nothing else that boss ever suggested). My job is often hectic, chaotic even. Far too often, so many little projects land on my desk last minute, that I look at my to-do list at the end of the day and wonder Where did my day go? That unpredictability prevents me from keeping organized. So I'm going to start a work journal, sort of like a lawyerly billable hours system. Who knows what I'll discover by the end of the year? And maybe I'll be able to organize my time better for next year.
2. Organize my schedule each month and look ahead. It is way too easy for me to jump from event to event and let time slip away. I get so busy planning an event, that I forget to stop and ask for help until the last minute. But this year, on the first of every month, I'm going to look ahead and assess.
3. Develop a Morning Routine. Does this happen to you? I come in in the morning to find a pile of things someone left for me on my desk or someone waiting for me with an urgent request for help. Before I know it, it's 11 am and I haven't even gotten through my emails or phone calls. I need to create a morning routine of absolute must-dos and give it priority. No distractions!
4. Buy Flowers! Something lovely never hurt the spirits, right? Why not be uplifted and refreshed at work? So flowers are making a comeback!
Never forget that January is a do-over in every aspect of life. There's nothing that cannot be fixed with a little bit of focus. So here's my final resolution.




Good luck to all! And please hold me accountable! I fully expect that to be one of your resolutions.