Those of you that have been reading this blog for awhile might recall the ugly plastic rat that my husband gave Lilith and how unfortunately she loved it. I started to hate this rat when Lilith discovered that I have a strong aversion to said rat and started to chase me around the house with it. I begrudgingly obliged. Then there was the time we were at a very crowded Red Robin and she started looking around frantically while saying, "Rat! where is Rat? Rat! Rat where are you!" Yep that was fun. So recently she started wrapping the rat in a small blanket and referring to it as, "Baby Rat". I don't know why but this REALLY bothered me. It horrified me one evening however when she presented me with the blanket wrapped rat and told me that baby rat was hungry and proceeded to to try to tell me that I needed to give baby rat boobie (breastfeed it). Yes, go ahead and laugh. It would be funny for me too it it wasn't actually happening to ME! I went out the next day determined to find something to take the place of baby rat. Since I am against forcing any kind of gender behavior on any child, I didn't want to buy her a "baby" doll so I found this line of stuffed animals that are made by Fisher Price. They coo (the tiger I got her purrs when held), make eating noises when fed, yawn, their eyes open and close, etc. They even come with a bottle, blanket, and wear a changeable diaper. I know it is still a little too much like mommy training but at least it isn't a rat and it has a bottle so it can eat from it, hopefully this will leave me and my breasts out of the equation! We even got Baby Kitty a bassinet for it to sleep in next to Lilith's bed. She loves it. She gets up first thing in the morning and feeds it, feeds it after her bath, feeds it after her own meals. She checks its diaper reporting to us if baby kitty is wet or dry. Then she moved Baby Rat into the bassinet too. She takes turns feeding them both. I am trying not to be too disturbed by this. I am also questioning the whole nature verse nurture aspect of the whole situation. I have made sure that I haven't tried to push her towards "girl" toys and behavior. Yes, I dress her in lots of pinks and cutsie clothes but I SWEAR that is where the girlieness stops. I bought her a train set as well as a toy kitchen for her birthday this year. I make sure I buy her what ever she is drawn too weather it is giant t-Rex dinosaurs or stuffed animals. I swear I have no idea where she learned the whole parenting behavior unless she is recreating her own experiences with baby rat and baby kitty. Maybe she learned it at school. I just hope it is a phase, a cute one at times granted, but hopefully a short fascination before she moves on to something less disturbing like Lego's or puzzles.
As I was sitting with my daughter sharing sliced bananas and cherries while listening to Sesame street singing about Mangoes and healthy food choices, I started to think how the I much better the produce tasted in California when I was a child or even in Denver then it hit me, you live in ALASKA! You might have gone your whole life without ever tasting a banana 100 years ago. You might not even know what a mango was! Teaching children about healthy eating and including fruits like mangoes would have seemed preposterous to the average individual 100 years ago. Just imagine trying to explain the obesity epidemic in our country today and the need for weight loss surgery to someone during the great depression for example! I remember my grandmother explaining to me how children received oranges in their stalkings on Christmas, because they were considered such a luxury in winter. I never received them in my stalking. Above is a photo of my maternal great grandfather and one of his cars in 1925. I remember being told that horses still had the right of way on the roads back then, especially in Oklahoma. I also posted a photo of myself in Egypt when I was 18. I remember reading and being taught about Egypt and its history in school and how much it fascinated me and lead me to eventually travel there. One hundred years ago, most of those excavations hadn't taken place yet and if they had, they hadn't made it into the text books, much less the school curriculum at the average one room school house. The second photo is of Alexandra, Egypt 100 years ago. The first photo is of Los Angeles a little over 100 years ago. 100 Years Ago...
A lot of this is applicable to our grandparents, and even some of our parents.
It May Be Hard to Believe That A Scant 100 Years Ago...
The average life expectancy in the United States was forty-seven. Only 14 percent of the homes in the United States had a bathtub. Only 8 percent of the homes had a telephone. A three minute call from Denver to New York City cost eleven dollars. Alabama, Mississippi, Iowa, and Tennessee were each more heavily populated than California. With a mere 1.4 million residents, California was only the twenty-first most populous state in the Union. The average U.S. worker made between $200 and $400 per year. A competent accountant could expect to earn $2000 per year, a dentist $2500 per year, a veterinarian between $1500 and $4000 per year, and a mechanical engineer about $5000 per year. More than 95 percent of all births in the United States took place at home. Ninety percent of all U.S. physicians had no college education. Instead, they attended medical schools, many of which were condemned in the press and by the government as "substandard." Sugar cost four cents a pound. Eggs were fourteen cents a dozen. Coffee cost fifteen cents a pound. Canada passed a law prohibiting poor people from entering the country for any reason, either as travelers or immigrants. The five leading causes of death in the U.S. were: 1. Pneumonia and influenza 2. Tuberculosis 3. Diarrhea 4. Heart disease 5. Stroke The American flag had 45 stars. Arizona, Oklahoma, New Mexico, Hawaii and Alaska hadn't been admitted to the Union yet. Drive-by-shootings, in which teenage boys galloped down the street on horses and started randomly shooting at houses, carriages, or anything else that caught their fancy, were an ongoing problem in Denver and other cities in the West. The average speed limit was 10 miles per hour. The population of Las Vegas, Nevada was thirty. The remote desert community was inhabited by only a handful of ranchers and their families.
Plutonium, insulin, and antibiotics hadn't been discovered yet. Scotch tape hadn't been invented. There was no Mother's Day or Father's Day. Only 6 percent of all Americans had graduated from high school. Some medical authorities warned that professional seamstresses were apt to become sexually aroused by the steady rhythm, hour after hour, of the sewing machine's foot pedals. They recommended slipping bromide, which was thought to diminish sexual desire,into the woman's drinking water. Marijuana, heroin, and morphine were all available over the counter at corner drugstores. According to one pharmacist, "Heroin clears the complexion, gives buoyancy to the mind, regulates the stomach and the bowels, and is, in fact, a perfect guardian of health. Coca-Cola contained cocaine instead of caffeine. Punch card data processing had recently been developed, and early predecessors of the modern computer were used for the first time by the government to help compile the 1900 census.
There were only 8,000 cars and only 144 miles of paved roads.
The tallest structure in the world was the Eiffel Tower!
The average wage in 1907 was 22 cents per hour.
Most women only washed their hair once a month, and used Borax or egg yolks for shampoo.
Crossword puzzles, canned beer, and ice tea hadn't been invented yet.
Two out of every 10 adults couldn't read or write.
Eighteen percent of households had at least one full-time servant or domestic help.
There were about 230 reported murders in the ENTIRE ! U.S.A. !
If you were living in Los Angeles a hundred years ago:
You would take the streetcar to work.
Another streetcar might kill you when you got off.
You would work six days a week.
If you were a bank clerk you would work Saturday nights.
If you were really, really lucky you might get a week’s paid vacation.
Perhaps a 10-year-old would be piloting the elevator in your building (don’t worry; the building wouldn’t be higher than five or six floors).
You would shop Downtown (even, perhaps, for groceries).
If you were black, you would live near the railroad tracks.
If you were black you could be a policeman or a fireman, but not police chief or fire chief. You would have to sit in the balconies of the theaters. You could be a lawyer or a doctor or a minister or a porter.
If you were white and had a fancy title or owned a business, you might live on Ninth Street or on Adams.
If you lived in Hollywood, you might be raising flowers or fruits.
If you lived in the San Fernando Valley, you definitely would be raising something or growing something or tending to some kind of animal.
If you spoke Spanish in your home, you would be called a cholo.
A cop could arrest you ‘on suspicion’ and then try to figure out what to charge you with.
You could be arrested for speaking to a crowd without a permit.
You might be treated with radium and milk for breast cancer.
You could walk through the Third Street tunnel and sing songs in harmony with your fellows.
You could take Angels Flight to your mansion on Bunker Hill.
If you were a police officer, you might have to work from 3 a.m. to 6 p.m. You wouldn’t have a union or even an officers’ association.
Likewise, a streetcar conductor would work from 5 a.m. until 11 p.m. (well, on the Fourth of July at least).
You would be surprised that a black man could invent a motorized roller skate. (If you were black, you might not be surprised.)
You could go to see a “coon show,” or even be in one if you had some blackface makeup (or already had a black face).
The last course of any dinner would be a cigar. Fancy dinners attended by big shots would be closed to women.
You could see Lillian Russell, Sarah Bernhardt or Booker T. Washington — in person.
All ladies would be women, but not all women would be ladies.
You would have to buy textbooks for your schoolchild at jam-packed Downtown stores.
The schools would be overcrowded.
If you were a woman you could join a club and try to do good things for your community and your country. You could also work six days a week in a department store.
If you were a married woman, you would always use your husband’s name, with Mrs. in front of it.
You would take the Pacific Electric to Venice or Long Beach as often as you could, unless you already lived there.
If you lived in Venice, you could get fifty dollars in gold for having a baby there.
If you lived in San Pedro or Wilmington you might decide being a part of L.A. would be better than watching your trees die of thirst.
You could go to an ostrich farm and see them pluck the ostriches.
It's very unlikely you’d be one of the 20 people murdered in a year within the city limits.
Ghouls might dig up your grandparents’ bones. No, strike that; your grandparents were probably neither born nor buried in Los Angeles — unless you were of Mexican (or French) descent.
If you were a teacher, you couldn’t get married and keep your job (unless you were a man, and then you probably wouldn’t be a teacher; you would be on the School Board).
You would get the flu in December or January, but you would call it the grippe.
If you were Chinese, there would be about 3,000 other people like you living in or near the Plaza, and most white folks would think you odd, dirty and smelly. You would probably be a man and, if so, you would wear your hair in a pigtail. Some would feel you couldn’t open a laundry outside of Chinatown. But you’d be allowed to march in the Fiesta parade — because then you’d be considered colorful.
You could have plenty of fun on the boats at Westlake Park — even if you were Japanese.
Your local minor-league baseball team would be called the Looloos.
If you were president of the Protective Savings Mutual Building and Loan Association, you would pack heat.
You could get two years in the clink for stealing seven cents from a church poor box.
You could take your whole family swimming in fresh mineral water. (Unless you were a "Negro," a "chink," a "cholo" or a "Jap.")
You’d be shocked that the donor of Griffith Park was charged with trying to murder his wife. But you’d be happy that she survived and divorced him.
If you were a man living in Hollywood, chances are you would vote to outlaw the sale of beer and wine except at drug stores. If you were a woman living there, you couldn't vote.
If you lived in Watts, you’d be surrounded by nature.
If you died, chances are your final illness would be diagnosed as tuberculosis.
Alaska 100 years ago; More than a century ago, when rumors of three of the largest gold nuggets ever found in Alaska brought hoards of eager prospectors to Nome, two Roman Catholic priests arrived there to find urgent need for social welfare and health provisions for the bursting community. The priests had heard of the Sisters of Providence and the 29 hospitals, schools, orphanages and other establishments created by the organization since its founding in Montreal, Canada, in 1843.
It was clear Nome needed courageous help, and they found it by persuading the Sisters of Providence to establish a hospital there. Four women began the journey across the rugged Northwest terrain.
"They came from Montreal," said Karina Jennings, strategic communications program manager at Providence Alaska Medical Center. "They went by horseback, train and boat. On June 10, 1902, they got to Nome."
But when the boat arrived, due to an outbreak of smallpox, the sisters remained quarantined aboard the vessel for three days. Once they were allowed to leave the boat, they stepped into Nome with little fanfare.
"They went to a church because they didn't know what else to do," Jennings said. Once they had settled, however, the women purchased a two-story building for about $5,000 and established the Holy Cross Hospital, where they could provide shelter, care and safety to those in need. To fund the hospital, the sisters set out on foot, dog sled and on horse to the mines surrounding Nome, selling "tickets" for care. On the ticket it read, "Let a few dollars of your wages go to Holy Cross Hospital, and when you get sick or injured, you will find in its wards the best treatment you can get in Alaska."
The city of Nome also has invited Sister Kay Belcher and other sisters to visit the city this month to celebrate the historical founding so many years ago. There are only three Sisters of Providence left in Alaska, though they still work and volunteer at Providence Alaska Medical Center.
The history of the Sisters in Alaska is a rich one. In 1904 they established a school offering academic classes and, for $4 a month, children could even take music lessons. In 1906, the hospital outgrew the building and with the generosity and help of the community opened the second Holy Cross Hospital. In 1910, the sisters purchased St. Joseph Hospital in Fairbanks for $10,000 and later were caring for an average of 300 patients a year. But by 1918 the mining industry troubles forced many of Nome's residents to leave and the sisters remaining in Nome moved on to join the Fairbanks hospital.
About 19 years later, by the time Anchorage had seen solid growth with the construction of the Seward to Fairbanks railroad, the Sisters of Providence announced they were building a two-story, 52-bed hospital in Anchorage. It was 1939 when the new Providence Hospital opened on Ninth Avenue and L Street, just down the road from the airstrip, now known as the Park Strip.
On Oct. 26, 1962, the new Providence Hospital opened at Goose Lake, only two years before the devastating 1964 earthquake. This is the site where it remains today as the Providence Alaska Medical Center. Cairo museum turns 100 years old! read more here!
Lilith is only 22 months and wears a 3t. She is super tall and lean which is the body type I would choose for myself if I could. The problem is that by the time I find pants that fit her length, they are falling off. I am going to have to start looking for toddler belts as even most of the pants with elastic waists are still too loose. She eats well, a lot healthier than I probably did at her age. She still breast feeds 3-4 times a day which I have read makes babies and toddlers leaner and taller than average. I am sure my being 5'9" and her father being 6'4" also adds to her super tallness too. I still feel like dressing her in a Godzilla outfit and setting her loose to stomp a Lego town somewhere. She is usually significantly taller than other children her age. People think she is older than she is. Some would say I need to get her a spokes deal or a modeling contract. This brings me to the reason for this post...It makes me worry about her too as she is the kind of child that people notice. My mother said I was/am the kind of person people never forget (this has been both good and bad in my life) but I am honest enough to be able to admit that I was never as attractive as Lilith is. Am I just a proud mother, maybe but every time I take her out anywhere, people fawn over her. Honest. I hear how beautiful she is everyday. It still bothers me when adult men fawn over her. I find myself acting like a mother bear. This is something that my mother use to do and something I SWORE I would never do if I was ever to become a parent myself. Yet, here I am at Fred Meyer and some strange man comes over and starts telling me how lovely Lilith is, and I pull her closer to me and mumble, "thank You" while giving the strange man the, "touch her and I will bite your arm off buddy" look that my own mother perfected in my youth. Most people are well meaning I am sure but I just can't help it. I had several friends that were abused in their childhoods and shared their story's with me. I had one male friend whose mother refused to believe that his stepfather was sexually abusing him even after his older sister walked in on my friend at 3 years old in bed with the step father and tried to tell her. I had another friend whose mother was very into the drug scene and hosted parties during one my friend (who was 12 or 13) was lured out to the woods behind her mothers house and raped by an adult man who was at the party. She never told anyone as she thought for years, and maybe still tells herself to this day, that it was consensual even though she didn't know this man and tried to get him to stop at which point he told her to be quite. I've had other friends and relatives (both male and female)that were abused and have shared their stories with me. I myself was told to never talk with strangers, to report to a woman (especially a mother with kids) or a person in uniform if I was ever lost, etc etc. But I was also allowed to walk to the store by myself at 7 years old in San Jose, California. I was also allowed to take several public buses with my friends to go to the malls without parental supervision when I was 12. My mother even allowed me to take the atm card and credit cards but I was only allowed to spend $20 (I always stuck to the $20 dollar limit at that age but it was totally different at 15 years old). I can't see myself allowing Lilith to do some of these things. I was reading another persons blog about how she felt she had done her children a disservice by having the stranger danger talks with them at 3 years old because she herself had been helped by strangers as a child. I don't know, have times changed that much since the 70's when I was a little? or are the police/media/families just reporting it more now when something bad happens to a child. I really don't know what it is but I do know that it makes me paranoid. I don't want to lock Lilith away like Kira sedgwicks character did in the movie "loverboy" (you'd have to see it to understand, it is worth a rent) but I don't want to allow her so much freedom that it invites the opportunity for predators to move in either. I had my first car at 15 years old and came and went as I pleased. I use to skip school with a couple of friends and drive to cities over 100 miles away to shop and hang out. Now as an adult, I look back and realize how dangerous that was. I know my mother had no idea where I was. You see the police grilling these parents about their children's where abouts in the movies and on TV and portray these parents as neglectful if they don't know where there children are every minute. Heck we even have cell phones marketed t o parents of young children with gps in them. I know parents that have DNA and finger print kits for their children, just in case. Has it really come to that? Do we need to have the chip implanted next (my cats have home again/pet finder chips that were placed by the place I adopted them from. not at my request, it was standard practice for that facility)? It is especially hard because Lilith does look older than she is and she is so attractive. What do the other mothers out there do? Am I just being paranoid? Should I order the stranger safety videos (see the photo of the one from the makers of Baby Einstein above), tattoo Lilith's social security number or some other identifier on the sole of her foot? What is a parent to do? I know I shouldn't even have this blog filled with photos of her as it too is potentially dangerous. That brings up a whole other series of concerns, Internet safety... yep there is a video for that too.
Gerber Graduates finger foods in Apple Wagon Wheels which gives you 3 pieces (7 grams) for 25 calories (15 mgs of sodium, 6 grams of carbohydrates, 1 gram of sugar, 4% of the RDA of calcium, 10% of the RDA of Iron, Vitamin E, and Zinc) To equal the average of 30 grams per servings of the other snacks being compared, you need to multiply all of these numbers times 4 which would give you; 28 grams per serving (12 pieces) at 100 calories with 60 mgs of sodium, 24 grams of carbohydrates, 4 grams of sugar, etc. These are my least favorite as they are basically chemically and salt enhanced air. They have no nutritional benefit that I can see, ironically these (and the other variety below) are specifically marketed for toddlers. Nabisco Teddy Grahams graham snacks in Honey which gives you 24 pieces (30 grams) for 130 calories (4 grams of fat {1 gram of fat is saturated}, 150 mgs of sodium, 23 grams of carbohydrates, 1 gram of fiber, 7 grams of sugar, 2 grams of protein, 10% of the RDA of calcium, 4% of the RDA of Iron. Gerber Graduates for toddlers crackers in Veggie which gives you 10 crackers (7grams) for 30 calories (1 gram of fat, 40mgs of sodium, 5 grams of sodium, 5 grams of carbohydrates, less than 1 gram of sugar, less than 1 grams of protein, 10% of RDA of Vitamin E, Zinc, Calcium, and Iron) To equal the almost 30 grams in the servings of the other products listed you really need to multiply these Numbers times 4 (giving you a serving of 40 crackers at 120 calories, 4 grams of fat, 160 grams of sodium, 20 grams of carbohydrates, etc) Pepperidge Farm Goldfish Baked Snack Crackers made with Whole Grain which give you 55 pieces (or 30 grams) for 140 calories (5 grams of fat {1 gram is saturated fat}, 250mgs of sodium, 19 grams of carbohydrates, 2 grams of fiber, less than 1 gram of sugar, 4 grams of protein, 4% of the RDA of calcium, and 6% of the RDA of Iron. It also contains less than 5mgs of cholesterol.) Gen soy (creamy Ranch Flavor)soy crisps which give you 17 crisps or 28 grams for 120 calories (3 grams of fat, 270 grams of sodium, 15 grams of carbohydrates, 2 grams of fiber, 1 gram of sugar, 7 grams of of protein, 10% of the RDA of calcium and iron, 2% of the RDA of Vitamins A and C) Which one do you think is best? I have to add to this post since I received a few comments on Quixotic WLS asking why I would want to give my child carbohydrates. One poster even asked why I didn't just give her doughnuts or brownies. In my opinion it is dangerous and unrealistic to ignore an entire food group in a growing childs diet. Whole grains and healthy breads are not nutritionally devoid (fat and sugar loaded)like doughnuts or brownies. As a child growing up in a home where both parents have had weight loss surgery and both dump on pasta and breads, the only breads, pastas, and most grains Lilith has exposure to, are the ones we make and or provide just for her. What would happen when she got old enough to realize that other children have breads and pastas in their homes and diets if I were to follow idea that she doesn't need them and therefore didn't provide them for her? Would she horde and crave them? Would she shun them? I don't know. That is why I am trying to find and provide health carbohydrates for her now. She gets plenty of fruits and veggies but as I said before, you can't ignore a whole food group in a growing childs diet and think that is okay. Your brain needs carbohydrates to function and to develop. You need them for energy. I also wouldn't raise her VEGAN either for the same reasons but that is just me and my parenting beliefs.
Help! I have run across another super cute childrens clothing website and catalog. The prices are pretty high on some items (think along the lines of Hanna Anderson) but they sure are cute. I can't wait to order Lilith some fun dresses for her birthday.this is the website here!
Okay if you are burnt out on Barney, Elmo, and all of the other Children's songs that are only to prevalent in our pop culture but still feel kinda selfish when you play some of your on eclectic music around the kids as it might have questionable references or because it doesn't have any educational benefits (or is it just me? cuz I listen to vintage Prince, Britney Spears, and Madonna?) ? Well if you love the 80's and music that is a little weird, you gotta buy this album (it even comes with a bonus DVD!) It is educational, fun, most of it (there are 2 songs that grated on my nerves but 2 out of over 23, that's not too bad if you ask me). I am posting some of their videos for the songs so you can listen and See before you buy. Of course I may be a little partial as I loved them in the 80's when this song was first on the late night rotation on MTV (back when they actually played some non mainstream music even if it was only late at night)
Lilith loves this show. I admit at first glance, it doesn't look like much but after watching one full episode, I started to warm up to it. It is cute and teaches quite a bit, a lot more than the Teletubbies which I personally can't stand. Lilith never picked anything up from that show (I tried to sit through it with her to give it a chance, honest), but within two days of Oobi, she was singing the "Game, Game" song. She likes it, not as much as Elmo, and I like it, not as much as I like the signing time videos, but it is very cute and speaks to her level. It is on daily on the Noggin cable network.
msnbc reports on it here! read more here! Lilith will NEVER own a Bratz doll, much less a BRATZ BABY! Who thinks a B_A_B_Y doll covered in make up and dressed like a hooker is cool? Is this what we are teaching our daughters to aspire to be? When you drive by the low income housing projects, these are the types of girls you USE to see in the 90's. I think even girls from the projects dress better than this now. I know,it is a world where it makes the news when Paris Hilton falls down some steps but isn't it also a world where we can celebrate all of the other young women out there trying to set positive examples, wait what do you mean they don't have enough time as the "Britney goes barefoot in gas station bathroom" story is running a little long? Atleast they removed the option of perchasing diet pills from the game! As a plus, I tried to access the site a few times and couldn't get through. Hopefully the problem, whatever it is, is keeping some 9 year olds out also.Miss Bimbo is here see for yourself
Signing time works! We bought Signing Times video "First Signs" and even though I have been signing to Lilith since she was 3 months old; I was amazed at how fast she picked up on the new signs presented in the video. Fish, Want, Momma, Dad, shoes, and water. She already knew the rest. I plan on ordering the rest asap. She learned sign from these videos much faster than she has from the Baby Einstein ones. They are on my Amazon wish list if you want to give Lilith a gift of one.
Breakfast mice 2 hard cooked eggs, peeled and halved 2 tsps low fat mayonnaise 1/4 tsp salt 2 radishes, thinly sliced and root ends reserved 8 rasins or currants cheddar cheese and spinach or lettuce leaves
Gently scoop egg yolks into small bowl. mash yolks, mayonnaise and salt until smooth. spoon yolk mixture back into egg halves. place 2 halves, cut side down, on each serving plate. cut 2 tiny slits near narrow end of each egg half; place 1 radish slice in each slit for ears. use root end of each radish to form tails. push rasins into each egg half to form eyes. garnish with cheese and spinach leaves.
Breakfast Tacos 2 eggs nonstick cooking spray 6 mini taco shells or 2 regular size taco shells 1/2 tsp taco seasoning mix 2 tablespoons shredded cheddar cheese or cheese sauce 2 tbs mild salsa 2 tbs chopped fresh parsley sliced green onion (optional) shredded lettuce (optional) preheat oven to 300 degrees. beat eggs in a small bowl. spray small skillet with nonstick cooking spray; heat over medium-low heat. pour eggs into skillet; cook and stir until eggs are set. sprinkle taco seasoning over eggs. heat taco shells according to package directions; cool slightly. spoon egg mixture into taco shells. top each taco with 1 tsp each cheese, salsa, and parsley. add green onion and lettuce, if desired.
Hawaiian Breakfast Pizza 2 tsps barbecue sauce or pineapple jam 1 English muffin, split in half and toasted 1 slice (1 ounce) smoked ham, diced 1/2 cup pineapple chunks 2 tbs shredded cheddar cheese spread barbecue sauce over each muffin half; place on foil-lined taster oven tray. sprinkle ham and pineapple chunks over muffin halves; top with cheese. toast about 2 minutes or until cheese is melted.
Inside-Out Turkey Sandwiches 2 tbs fat-free cream cheese 2 tbs pasteurized process cheese spread 2 tsp chopped green onion 1 tsp prepared mustard 12 thin slices fat-free smoked turkey breast 4 large pretzel logs or unsalted breadsticks combine cream cheese, cheese spread, onion and mustard in small bowl; mix well. arrange 3 turkey slices on large sheet of plastic wrap, overlapping slices in center. spread 1/4 of cream cheese mixture evenly onto turkey slices, covering slices completely. place 1 pretzel at bottom edge of turkey slices; roll up turkey around pretzel. (be sure to keep all 3 turkey slices together as you roll them around pretzel) repeat with remaining ingredients.
Great Zukes Pizza Bites 1 medium zucchini 3 tbs pizza sauce 2 tbs tomato paste 1/4 tsp dried oregano 3/4 cup (3 ounces) shredded reduced fat mozzarella cheese 1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese 8 slices pitted black olives 8 slices pepperoni preheat boiler; adjust rack 4 inches from heat. trim and discard end of zucchini. cut zucchini into 16 (1/4 inch thick) diagonal slices. place zucchini on nonstick baking sheet. combine pizza sauce, tomato paste and oregano into small bowl. spread scant tsp sauce over each zucchini slice. combine cheeses in small bowl. top each zucchini slice with 1 tbs cheese mixture; press into sauce. place 1 olive slice on each of 8 pizza bites. place 1 folded pepperoni slice on each remainin pizza bite. broil 3 minutes or untill cheese is melted and zucchini is tender. serve immediately.
Microwave Sweet Potato Chips 2 cups thinly sliced sweet potatoes 1 tbs packed brown sugar 2 tsp margarine place sweet potatoes in single layer in microwavable dish. sprinkle with water. microwave at high 5 minutes. stir in brown sugar and margarine. microwave at high 2 to 3 minutes. let stand a few minutes before servings.
Banana Roll-Ups 1/4 cup smooth or crunchy almond butter 2 tbs milk chocolate chips 1 to 2 tbs milk 1 (8-inch) whole wheat flour tortilla 1 large banana, peeled combine almond butter, chocolate chips and 1 tbs milk in medium microwavable bowl. microwave on medium (50%) for 40 seconds. stir well and repeat if necessary to melt chocolate. add more milk if necessary for desired consistency. spread almond butter mixture on tortilla. place banana on one side of tortilla and roll up tightly. with a sharp knife, cut into 8 (1-inch) slices.
Super Scooper Turkey Tacos 1 cup chopped cooked turkey breast 1/4 cup chopped celery or chopped seeded cucumber 1/4 cup shredded carrot 1/4 cup shredded mexican cheese blend 3 tbs reduced fat mayonnaise 2 tbs salsa 8 grape tomatoes, quartered 6 mini taco shells or 1 1/2 cups baked tortilla chips combine turkey, celery, carrot, cheese, mayonnaise and salsa in medium bowl. sprinkle tomatoes on top. cover; refrigerate 2 hours or overnight. to serve, use taco shells to scoop up turkey mixture.
Chicken Tenders in Bacon Blankets 1/4 cup Dijon mustard 1/4 cup sugar free maple syrup 1/4 tsp chili powder 4 chicken breast tenders, cut in half lenghtwise (about 12 ounces) 8 bacon strips preheat boiler. stir together mustard, syrup and chili powder in medium bowl. reserve half of mustard mixture. brush each chicken tender with remaining mustard mustard mixture. wrap 1 bacon strip around each chicken tender. place chicken tenders, bacon ends down, on rack of broiler pan. broil 5 inches from heat 4 to 5 minutes on each side or until bacon is crisp and chicken is no longer pink in center. serve with reserved mustard mixture for dipping.
Rainbow Casserole 5 potatoes, peeled and cut into thin slices 1 pound ground beef 1 onion, peeled, halved, then cut into thin slices salt and pepper 1 can ( about 28 ounces) stewed tomatoes, drained and juice reserved 1 cup frozen peas or 1 can (about 6 ounces) peas, drained preheat oven to 350 degrees. spray 3-quart casserole with nonstick cooking spray. boil potatoes in salted water in large saucepan until almost tender. drain; set aside. meanwhile, brown ground beef in medium skillet over medium heat until no longer pink, stirring to separate meat. drain fat. layer half of ground beef, half of potatoes, half of onion, salt and pepper, half of tomatoes and half of peas. repeat layers. add reserved tomato juice bake, covered, about 40 minutes or until most of liquid is absorbed.
Frozen Florida Monkey Malt 2 bananas 1 cup milk 5 tbs frozen orange juice concentrate 3 tbs malted milk powder (optional) wrap bananas in plastic wrap; freeze until solid. break bananas into bieces and place in blender with milk, orange juice concentrate and malted milk powder, if desired. blend until smooth; pour into 2 glasses; serve immediately.
Berry Blue Smoothie 2 cups fresh or slightly thawed frozen blueberries 1 container (8 ounces) low fat vanilla yogurt 1 cup milk 1 can (6 ounces) unsweetened pineapple juice 3 tbs honey 1 1/2 cups ice cubes (about 16 cubes) in the container of an electric blender container, place blueberries, yogurt, milk, pineapple juice and honey; whirl until smooth. add ice cubes, a few at a time; whirl until finely crushed. serve immediately.
Jiggly Banan Split 1 banana 3 gelatin snack cups, any flavors (3 ounces each) 2 tbs whipped topping colored sprinkles 1 maraschino cherry peel banana and cut in half lengthwise. place banana in serving dish, separating slices. unmold snack cups by dipping partially in warm water for a few seconds. slide gelatin from cups ; place between banana slices. top with whipped topping, sprinkles and cherry.
BLT Cukes 1/2 cup finely chopped lettuce 1/2 cup finely chopped baby spinach 3 slices crisp-cooked bacon, crumbled 1/4 cup diced tomato 1 1/2 tbs fat free mayonnaise pinch salt 1/4 tsp black pepper 1 large cucumber minced parsley or green onion combine lettuce, spinach, bacon, and tomato with mayonnaise. season with salt and pepper; set aside. peel cucumber. trim off ends and slice in half lengthwise. use spoon to scoop out seeds; discard seeds. divide BLT mixture between cucumber halves, mounding in hollowed areas. sprinkle with minced parsley. cut into 2 inch pieces.
I was reading "The Girlfriends Guide to Toddlers" the other night and she mentions, in the potty training chapter, how we pass our food hang ups on to our children. That got me to thinking, What are the children of WLS patients growing up with? Will Lilith think all homes are like ours and that it is perfectly normal to eat several protein bars a day, never have bread or potatoes, to check the sugar content on every food item before it goes in the shopping cart? I remember going to a friends house as a child and being offered Kool Aid. I thought it was awful, it tasted like pancake syrup to me. I thought everyone made their Kool Aid with Sweet n Low like we did. I thought it was my friend's family that was different not mine. Will Lilith sneak out for pasta? or a pb and j that isn't made with a pita? Will she think all deserts are suppose to be low sugar or sugar free? I need to look into this to see if there are any WLS parents out there that have raised their children on a WLS friendly diet and how they have turned out. Before someone writes me and asks me if we are really giving an 18 month old protein bars, the answer is no! The fact is children are very aware, studies have shown that a first grader will pretend to buy liquor and cigs when play shopping if they live in a home where those items are regularly consumed. Come to think of it, maybe it wouldn't be so bad if Lilith pretends to shop and the health food store and GNC and packs her play cart with protein bars, after pretending to check their sugar content.
This is a truly appalling look at the state of public education in our country. What I like most about this book is that you not only get to hear the authors opinions but you get to hear what the children themselves feel and think about their situations. I worry that we are raising a generation without hope or ambition. When you read the interviews with these children (some as young as 6 years old), what shocked me most was the apathy and acceptance even in the very young of their "lot" in life. Some of the brightest children in these schools were only "hoping" to attain mediocre career and educational goals. "Many urban high school students do not study math but "business math"-essentially, a very elemental level of bookkeeping. Job-specific courses such as "cosmetology", which would be viewed as insults by suburban parents, are common and are seen as realistic preparation." "Stopping in the doorway of a room with seven stoves and three refrigerators, I am told by a teacher that this is a class called "Introductory Home Ec." I ask her whether she regards this class as preparation for employment. "Not this class," she says. "The ones who move on to Advanced Home Ec. Are given job instruction." When I ask her what jobs they are trained for, she says: "Fast food places-Burger King, McDonald's." While visiting a kindergarten class room the author quotes some very disturbing statistics, "Twelve years from now, by the junior year of high school, if the neighborhood statistics hold true for these children, 14 of these 23 boys and girls will have dropped out of school. Fourteen years from now, four of these kids, at most, will go to college. Eighteen years from now, one of those four may graduate from college, but three of the 12 boys in this kindergarten will have already spent time in prison." At a high school the author is told, "Of 33 children who begin the history classes in the standard track, he says, more than a quarter have dropped out by spring semester. "Maybe 24 are left in June. Mind you, this is in the junior year. We're speaking of the children who survived. Ninth and tenth grades are the more horrendous years for leaving school. I have four girls right now in my senior home room who are pregnant or have just had babies." When I ask them why this happens, I am told, " Well, there's no reason not to have a baby. There's not much for me in public school". It is hard enough to imagine a child living with no medical care to speak of, most of the children haven't or rarely see a dentist and many have to live with abscesses and rotting teeth. "Although dental problems don't command the instant fears associated with low birth weight, fetal death rate or cholera, they do have the consequence of wearing down the stamina of children and defeating their ambitions. Bleeding gums, impacted teeth and rotting teeth are routine matters for the children I have interviewed. The children get use to feeling constant pain. Children live for months with pain that grown-ups would find unendurable. But, to me, most shocking is to see a child with an abscess that has been inflamed for weeks and that he has simply lived with and accepts as part of the routine of life. Many teachers in urban schools have seen this. It is almost common place." Most are malnutrition and survive off of school meals that are themselves woefully nutritionally inadequate (ketchup as a vegetable?). Children have already learned in grade school to pocket food for the weekends. Health insurance is unheard of. Many have parents that work 2 and three jobs and/or live on some type of assistance. Many have a parent that is absent (often incarcerated). And an appalling number have been abused. They often get very little support or encouragement from their parents. They live in neighborhoods where prostitution and drug dealing is an everyday occurrence, (and sometimes considered a viable career path). They watch TV and movies where even the family situational comedy where the characters are suppose to be portraying, "middle income America", seems just as much of a fantasy life as the latest time traveling science fiction blockbuster. "They see suburban schools on television and they see them when they travel for athletic competitions. Children, of course, don't understand at first that they are being cheated. They come to school with a degree of faith and optimism, and they often seem to thrive during the first few years. It is sometimes not until the third grade that teachers start to see the warning signs of failure. By the fourth grade many children see it too. By fifth or sixth grade, many children demonstrate their loss of faith by staying out of school. The director of a social service agency estimates that 10 percent of the 12 and 13 year old children that he sees are out of school for all but one or two days every two weeks." How with the odds already stacked so tragically against them can they have any hope of bettering themselves in a school where, textbooks, if they even have them, are 15-20 years old. (the author found history classes being taught with textbooks that still had Richard Nixon as president!) Science labs with no equipment, no computers, vocational labs for "career training" that are out of date and with broken equipment. Schools with 700 students and only 2 working bathrooms (some schools raw sewage frequently backed up from the bathrooms to the school kitchens). "Sewage flowed into the basement, through the floor, then up into the kitchen and the students' bathrooms. The backup, occurred in the food preparation areas. School is resumed the following morning at the high school, but a few days later the overflow recurs. This time the entire system is affected, since the meals distributed to every student in the city are prepared in the two schools that have been flooded." "Before I leave, I enter a boy's bathroom. Four of the six toilets do not work. The toilets stalls, which are eaten away by red and brown corrosion, have no doors. The toilets have no seats. One has a rotted wooden stump. There are no paper towels and no soap. Near the door there is a loop of wire with an empty toilet-paper roll. "This," says Sister Julia, "is the best school in the district." Even if these children beat the odds and graduate, "27 percent of high school graduates read at the eighth grade level or below; and a large proportion of these students read at less than sixth grade level. Those very few that who graduate and go to college rarely read well enough to handle college level courses. At most city's community colleges, which receive most of their students from public schools, the noncompletion rate is 97 percent. Of 35,000 students working toward degrees in the community colleges, only 1,000 annually complete the program and receive degrees." Classroom sizes are often so large that teachers cannot form any type of relationship with the children in their classes much less devote time to children that are falling behind or have special needs. "If you have a high school teacher with five classes each day and between 150 and 175 students, it's going to have a devastating effect. The schools systems, it should also be noted, has been using more than 70 "permanent substitute teachers," who are paid only $10,000. Yearly, as a way of saving money. Average class size in this school is 30. Ideal class size for these kids would be 15 to 20. If we do not give these children a sufficient education to lead healthy and productive lives, we will be their victims later on. We'll pay the price someday-in violence, in economic costs." "One city in New Jersey is so short of space that four elementary schools now occupy abandoned factories. Children at one wood-framed elementary school, which has no cafeteria or indoor space for recreation, eat lunch in a section of the boiler room. A bathroom houses reading classes" Schools can vary drastically in their condition, equipment, and crowding in one district to the next, "A comparison between an elementary school in Paterson and one in nearby Wayne, the school in Wayne is 33 years old and holds 323 children. The school in Paterson is 60 years old and holds 615 children. The first school has 395 square feet per child, the second 87 square feet. The first school has 40,000 square feet of playing area, the second 3,000 square feet. The kindergarten in the first school holds 15 to 18 children. A room the same size in the second school holds 60 children divided into two groups of 30 each and separated only by a row of file cabinets." Many of these teachers are being paid much less than in the wealthier districts, "I get $38,000 after nearly 30 years of teaching. If I went across the river to one of the suburbs of St. Louis, I'd be earning $47,000, maybe more. If I taught in the Chicago suburbs, at a wealthy high school, I'd be getting close to $60,000. Money's not an issue for me, since I wouldn't want to leave; but for new, incoming teachers, this much differential is a great deterrent. When you consider than many teachers are afraid to come here in the first place or, if they are not afraid, are nontheless offended by the setting or intimidated by the challenge of the job, there should be a premium and not a punishment for teaching in schools like this." "The salary scale, too low to keep exciting, youthful teachers in the system, leads the city to rely on low paid subs, who represent more than a quarter of the teaching force. "We have teachers," Mrs. Collins says, "who only bother to come in three days a week. One of these teachers comes in usually around nine-thirty. You ask her how she can expect the kids to care about their education if the teacher doesn't even come till nine-thirty. She answers you, "It makes no difference. Kids like these aren't going anywhere." But even substitute teachers are quite frequently in short supply, "On an average morning 5,700 children in 190 classrooms come to school to find they have no teacher." "We have been in this class a whole semester," says a 15 year old, "and they still can't find us a teacher." "A student in auto mechanics says he'd been in class 16 weeks before he learned to change a tire. His first teacher quit at the beginning of the year. Another teacher slept through most of the semester. "You can talk. Just keep it down." Soon he would be asleep. "Let's be real," the student says. "Most of us ain't going to college...We could have used a class like this." At one high school students often have two or three "study Halls" a day, in part to save the cost of teachers. "Not much studying goes on in study hall," a supervising teacher says. "I let the students play cards...I figure they might get some math skills out of it." Many of the teachers interviewed (most were almost 60 years old) felt overwhelmed, tired, and defeated. They stated over and over that they felt they weren't getting any support from the districts in which they taught, the city officials, the government, and even from the parents of the children in their classes. Only one example was mentioned out of all of the schools and classes the author visited of a parent coming in to help out in the classroom. Most teachers stated that homework was almost pointless as the parents (even if they did make the effort or have the time to try to help with it), didn't have the reading and math skills themselves to understand it. This book is very frightening to me as I am about to become a parent myself yet I have known many people of my generation that are "High School Graduates", and can't write a decent cover letter or resume. I know a few people that consider having a high school diploma the same as being "educated". I read some of the blogs and personal websites on the internet and I am shocked at the poor grammar and lack of any type of sentence structure. I wonder if these people don't know any better or if they just don't care. I remember when I went to high school, it only took 16 credits to graduate (my mother's high school required 16 credits to graduate in the 1950's). Drama counted as an English credit, drivers education was a fine art credit, there were no computers in the school for students, (yet myself and quite a few others had them at home), and home ec. Was a REQUIRED course as was typing! It was almost impossible not to have all of your required credits by your junior year yet I know at least 25 kids that dropped out or flunked out of my graduation class, (many of them teenage girls that became pregnant. In spite of this, they wouldn't offer any sex ed. Because they reasoned it would encourage the students to start having sex), it may have been even more. I went to college at 17 but because the district refused to release my high school diploma until my class graduated (over a year later), even though I had obtained all of the required credits, I had to take my GED for college admission. I tested with several drop outs and several adults that had flunked the GED several times before. I remember one girl telling me that she had been told if she flunked it again this time, she would have to wait six months before she was allowed to test again. It was her fourth time trying to pass it. I was very nervous having heard all of this when they handed out the first packet which was the social studies test. I opened my packet and almost laughed at its simplicity. The questions were fifth grade level at the most. The test would ask a question about a historical date or fact one way giving some of the details like the date and who was involved but not what had actually occurred or what the act did then a few questions further down the same historical date or fact would be asked about again this time giving the answer to the first question in its wording and asking about a detail that was mentioned in the previous questions wording. There were MANY examples of this on that test as well as the other tests, including the 2-3 "algebra" questions on the math tests. Every test was multiple choice. Yet most of the people testing that evening had flunked that test SEVERAL times! If my mother hadn't insisted that I read, "The Classics"and purchased workbooks for me from the time I could read, (Which was before I ever attended kindergarten), maybe I too would have been sitting there flunking it that night also. I must admit that I know and still know lots of parents that don't take much if any interest in their children's education. I know several homes that have children that don't even have a dictionary much less a set of encyclopedias. I know too of homes where the family computer is used as a sexual aid and as a toy instead of an educational tool. When I first became pregnant, I went out and bought baby flash cards, books, and educational CD's. I was raised that a certain amount of education SHOULD and is EXPECTED to be done at home. I have had two teachers as friends in my life and both earned much less than I did (even the first friend who I knew when I was working as a CNA). They both worked in poorer districts (one because she was bilingual and the other because he himself lived in the poorer area due to his paltry wages). Both expressed (in different ways but essentially the same message), that some parents treated school as free daycare and some even seemed annoyed when they tried to address concerns about their children to them as if it was the teachers problem and not the parents concern. I have even seen this mentality in parents I have known. I worry what our countries future is going to be like when the children the author mentions become adults and what effect it will have on our crime, homeless, and employment rates. How much worse does our educational system have to get before the government and the parents take action? How much further behind do we have to get compared to other "developed" countries before we realize that we are quickly becoming a nation of ignorants? I hope that others will read this book and take an interest and action even if it is only with their own children.
