easy peasy breakfast

I did not actually get this one off of Pinterest. Anyone else love those breakfast sausage biscuits from McDonald's? Anyone even willing to admit it.  I do!  They 'stick to your ribs'. After one of those I don't need to eat for hours. And...breakfast is the most important meal of the day -- But I don't like how bad they are for you.  

So here's my version -- granted, still not the healthiest, but better.  Takes almost no prep time -- seriously ripping open a couple packages and throwing something into the oven and microwave. It's high in protein and a moderate amount of calories.  AND -- real biscuits.

 Have you seen these mini biscuits? They're real, you get that biscuit flavor and texture but better portion control.

The biscuits take 17 minutes in a 350 degree oven, and the sausage 70 seconds in the microwave.

 Serving size is two biscuits, we only use one.  It's enough, you get that biscuit flavor with just one.  So using one biscuit and two turkey sausages your calorie intake is 210 kcal, 10 fat gams, 14.5 protein g  & 11 carbs.

I'm not claiming it's a health food, but it's a better choice than the McDonald's sausage biscuit (430 kcal, 27 fat grams, 34 carbs & 11 g protein).  Even if you are one of those people who never ever crave them.

The kids love them too!

Corn Dog Muffins (made it off of Pinterest)

I am all about easy, I'm also all about Pinterest, it's gone beyond addiction and is a full-fledged obsession.  I have yet to 'pin' any pins about Pinterest, which means I have not crossed over to the dark side, I'm sure that's coming.

Found this very Isaac-friendly recipe on Pinterest and it was so easy I didn't even have to go to the original link...It's your favorite corn bread recipe and hot dogs.

that's it.

seriously!

 Mixed up a batch of some corn bread mix, filled 2-6 muffin muffin tins half way full.  Cut some hot dogs in thirds.

 Found these hotdogs at the store...yay, guilt free -- well then looked at the fat grams and not so much guilt free....just nitrate free....but feeling less guilty about essentially feeding my child corn dogs for dinner.

 placed a third of a hot dog in each section of the muffin tins and then poured the rest of the corn bread mix on top.

 Baked at 400 degrees Fahrenheit for 16 minutes....yup, that's it! super freakin' easy! Put on some broccoli to steam and cut up some pears and dinner was ready.

Isaac Approved!

which Paul?

A while back when they were announcing who was running for the Republican candidate I heard the announcer say Ru Paul (I should pay more attention when I'm watching the news....)

What the Heck?

I wasn't sure if I was more shocked that he would be running for office or that it was for the Republicans (more the latter I think)

Then I realized it was this guy....Ron Paul.

okay, that makes more sense (I mean then Ru Paul, not necessarily for the Republican nominee)

I still giggle when I hear his name, I go back to my original mistake.  I even picture Ru Paul in the debates and start laughing.  My husband wonders why I'm laughing as I hear these guys discuss foreign policy, but I just picture Ru up there with the rest of them, behind a podium, with a blond wig, breaking out in a song or something.....

Have a great weekend everyone....I got an extra day thanks to the foot of snow that's dumping on Denver right now! YAY snow days. Love being a school nurse!

What? I'm not a Gemini anymore?

I guess this news wasn't that earth shattering, or at least it didn't enter into my consciousness when it hit the papers...in January 2011.  There's a thirteenth sign.  It ended up moving around all the other signs.

I'm no longer a Gemini. I'm a Taurus.

My identity is really shaken right now.

Jason can no longer tease me about having multiple personalities.
I can't blame my fits of fancy, changes of mind and all around flakiness on my mercurial nature.

Jason's a Leo.

I'm not supposed to get along with Leos.

At least when I was a Gemini I wasn't, I'll have to look it up, maybe I do now?

See what I mean -- I'm really confused now (I was confused before, but that was part of being a Gemini, now that I'm not a Gemini, I'm confused for a specific reason and that's because I don't know how to be a Taurus).

Although, come to think of it, I have been feeling more stubborn lately.

Thank goodness I'm not the new sign,  Ophiuchus -- I can't even pronounce it (it's not even in spell-check right now -- it's been a year come on spell check people!)

It's 2012, we've lost a planet (at least that news I was up to date on) and we have a new astrological sign...

I'm worried.

Do Taurus's worry?

Really?

I was reading candyland to bandland's blog about the new obesity intervention public service ads that are running in Georgia.  As we all know the South has one of the bigger problems with obesity then in other areas of the country and I have to say that I understand the intent was well-meaning.  But if they seriously think the same type of campaign they do for not trying Meth is going to work for obesity then the creators of this campaign have no idea how obesity effects those who are obese.

It's not like you can say, don't try food because once you try it you're hooked and your life will be all about stealing money to buy that pizza you're craving.  At first it's whining to mom you want the sugary cereal while walking down the cereal aisle and next it's stealing jewelry to get enough cash to score skittles in an alley from a dealer.

Here's one of the supporters/creators who talks about the research about being effective, what she's not saying is the research is most likely market research determining if people thought the ad campaign was effective in creating a dialogue about obesity, not if it's effective in the solving the problem of childhood obesity. For that you need evidence based research -- this is the problem when you try to move this out of the health arena and into the marketing arena -- this can not be solved by focus groups.



Okay, maybe they're not as scary as those don't try meth commercials (and have you seen those, they freak the he.ll out of my kids YAY). Yes, I do think that parents should get their heads out of the sand about it.  But what research (and not market research but evidence-based research) shows is that health care providers, especially pediatricians are loathe to bring the subject up.  Where is the ad campaign for them?

My kids' pediatrician? oh my gosh he's on board! My oldest is 95th in height and 70th in weight, he's quick, good in sports eats anything and is skinny and enjoys being active (I think he may have been switched at birth) my younger one didn't get so lucky, he's 97th in height and 105% in weight, which puts him at a too high BMI, even with that massive height.  He's really built big, the kid has muscular thighs and shoulders that would have made the shoulder pads Linda Evans wore  in Dynasty look discrete. But he also has a 'bowl full of jelly'.  The pediatrician said he didn't want to do a weight loss plan for him, he just wants him to grow into his weight.  He does snack too much, he does like junk food too much.  He does Karate, but we've upped the ante and he has to spend some time on the elliptical if he wants to play video games and now only one snack after school instead of grazing.  I tell him it's about health, not about weight.  I tell the older one too.  No sugar treats or soda during the week either, weekends in moderation.

I'm trying.

Even if I hear grumblings that I may be abusive when I tell them they have to eat all their vegetables and their reward is just a hug and not chocolate.

I don't want my kids to struggle like I have.

Okay, back to the actual issue....(if you've been reading my blog you know I digress, I also take liberties with grammar...whatever, oh look I digressed again --- so seriously, NOW back to topic)

Kids are in school more of their life then out of school, where is the funding to have health and nutrition classes? Why is physical education one of the items to be cut out of programs?  Why is recess only ten minutes long?  And have you seen the crap that's served in school lunches.  A sugary fruit cup is NOT a fruit choice no matter how you cut it.  This is particularly important because obesity tends to run higher in low income areas and those kids are getting free and reduced lunches, so if we want to help our children, how about lobbying for healthier school lunches, longer recess and PE every day.

Okay, so I feel a bit passionately about this, it's what I'm doing my Master's project in.  That project I should be working on instead of doing this blog....so  let's just call this research (wink wink).  In an article I'm reading "Fighting an Epidemic: The role of Schools in Reducing Childhood Obesity" by Sara Pyle, et al says "Interventions targeting obesity in the schools should be designed to promote healthy weight rather than focus on losing weight or obtaining a specific weight" in fact focusing on weight reduction may cause other problems, such as growth decline or feelings of failure and exacerbate other issues such as depression or impaired self esteem.

So yes, let's get educated on obesity and obesity in children. We can do something about it, but let's go about it in an emotionally and physically healthy way.

Stepping off soap box now.

Would hate to break tradition....

Jason and I have been together since we were 16 -- amazing I know, you don't actually meet a lot of high school sweethearts that "made it".  Being together since we were 16 means we've had about 26 New Year's eve's together.  We have stayed awake for only a few of them.

One was in Vermont in 1986.  We were staying in this decrepit bed and breakfast of a friend of his dad's.  The teenage kids were having a party (strangely, Jason and I were technically also teenage kids as we were 18, but we felt so much older because we were in college - 1st semester and not high school, so there was a distinction in maturity, at least in our minds).  I was sick. The bathroom was down the hall.  Our room had two single beds that we put together.  Even with putting them together and both of us having all our clothes on, the thread bear blankets were not enough to keep us warm.  Vermont gets really really cold.  Periodically, I would make my way through the dark hallway to the dark bathroom and throw up.  I would have to climb over making-out teenagers and two girls lamenting over some other girl being a slut and how some boy just didn't know a good thing when he had it.  Jason and I decided we couldn't handle it any more and decided to leave.  But his car wouldn't start (because it was that freakin' cold).  By the time we got back to our room the teen agers had stolen our two pillows and our thread bare blankets.  So we huddled together, miserable and rang in the New Year.  His car started the next morning....thank GAWD.

The only other one I remember was 1999.  My brother and his then girlfriend (who is not his lovely wife of today, and I'm so happy about that because his lovely wife of today is wonderful), Jason's sister and her husband and Jason and I went to a fancy party at a fancy country club, dressed up and partied like it was 1999 in a we're-in-our-early-30's-have a-six-month-old-and-are-sleep-deprived-and-have-never-been-drinker-partiers kinda way.  It was fun, loved being with family, stayed awake to drink champagne with my sweetie.  Very nice experience, not sure I'd do it every year (actually pretty sure I wouldn't do it every year, since it was the only year we did it).

In those 26 years we may have stayed up another time or two and watched the ball drop.

Other then that....it's Z's at the Zimmer's.

Yesterday Jake had two back to back basketball games (won one, lost one).  They only had five players so those poor boys didn't get a break.  He came home, took a bath and passed out.  Isaac desperately wanted us all to stay up and out of the four of us, he's the one who could do it.  But since Jake's basketball tournament continues today we made him go to sleep.  Jason promised him he would set his alarm and wake him up to see the ball drop.  Isaac, didn't trust him so he set his own alarm.

I vaguely remember Isaac coming in, waking Jason up, watching the ball drop, some people yelling outside and getting a sloppy nine year old boy kiss on my cheek and a whispered, "happy New Year mommy", then it was back to Z-land for me.

Best New Year's ever.

Being home with my family, one who loves me, one who I cherish.
I am blessed!

May everyone have a blessed, restful and happy 2012!

year in review - Christmas Letter supplement

There's so much I missed in our Christmas letter like my mother-in-law finding her birth-family, meeting them AND they like each other.

Family

Before Meeting New Family

I don't think I ever posted about what happened.  So, they never wrote back, I never put in the letter when in the summer Sher was coming, so they had plenty of time.  The brother that received the letter believed it right away.  He shared with another brother, who did not.  They took it to their father (their mother had already died), their father is the man their mother married after Sher was born.  He confirmed it.  All this happened before Sher knocked on the brother's door.

So, Sher knocks on the door, brother, Paul answers and knows immediately who she is because she looks just like their mother.  Tears flowed, hugs were given and an impromptu reunion happened the next weekend where Sher met one sister and three brothers (the mother and one other sister had passed away).  Sher couldn't have been happier.

Her sister Maryanne came out for a visit last fall.  She's wonderful, and confirms that humor must be hereditary.  Two of Sher's brothers are coming out in January and we're looking forward to meeting them.  During the investigation of family, Sher found out she has cousins in Wyoming and she and her sister (who also had never met these cousins) went up to visit them.

Weddings
The boys babysitter got married this past summer.  Nothing makes you feel old like attending the wedding of your kids' babysitter.  She was a beautiful bride and it was great to see her marry such a wonderful man.  Unfortunately, we have to find a new babysitter. They asked Jake to be a ring bearer and he got to wear a tux.  He loved that.
Kate getting married

Jason's cousin also got married this year.  We're so happy she chose Hawaii because not only was it wonderful to see the beautiful and talented Emily get married, it was great to have a family vacation in one of the more beautiful places on earth!
Emily Getting Married

Fort lots of pictures of Hawaii, just click on to January on the side tab....

Kid stuff:
lego qualifying tourney
Karate tourney #2
baseball and swimming, same day
karate tourney #1
championship game
Jake pitching

My friends are so funny:
One of the best pranks ever was played on me this year...it still makes me laugh thinking about it

my funny friends


Enjoy the year in review...and hope to hear from you all in the coming year!

2011 Christmas Letter

2011 has been quite the year.  It was so hard to choose only a couple of pictures to represent what we've done.  I'll start with what the kids have been doing, because, frankly, they are what have been keeping us busy!

Jacob Michael (Jake)

He's 12 and half now, and in his first year of middle school. He's 5'6, 98 lbs and wears a size 11 shoe.  He's going to take after his name-sake, my dad, and will be a tall one.  He's very much into sports, we're not sure where that comes from and seems to have some talent at it.  He started a program called Sea Cadets which is a young-navy kind of thing.  And....yup, girls seem to be in the picture, but he plays his cards close to his chest.  I hear about it from the girl's little brother who visits the school nurse (at the school where I work).....gotta love working for the same school district your kids go to.

 Here's Jake doing an 'exercise'.  Not only do Sea Cadets help the boys get prepared for military service later, they also do community service.  This time they helped put the Easter Seals camp to sleep for the winter.  He's loving it and moving up in the ranks quickly.  He's seriously thinking about joining the Navy when he grows up.  We're stressing that he needs to go to college first and join as an officer, like his Uncle, Jose.

 Basketball, kind of an obvious choice for such a tall kiddo.  He really likes it.

 He joined track at school and had a good time.  Those long legs were ideal for hurdles...although the little guy next to him, beat him (he's on Jake's baseball team too and that kid gets to first base before his ball gets to outfield, he's quick)

 Jake's baseball team made it to the championship game this summer.  They won every game during the play-offs, but lost the championship game so came in second for the league.  They did great. Jake's favorite position is third base, and he like to pitch once in awhile too.

He's our funny, well-liked, easy-going kid.  He'll still give us hugs and kisses when none of his friends are around and once in awhile will even choose to spend time with us over his friends (but not often).

Isaac Gabriel (Isaac)
He's also going to be a tall one, he's 9 and 3 months, he's the youngest in his class and about a head taller then most of the kiddos.  He's 5 ft tall and 120 pounds (mostly muscle, you should see the thighs and chest on this kid) and wears a 6 1/2 shoe.  He's good at sports too, but enjoys solo sports over team sports.

 One of Isaac's favorite sports is Karate.  He's quickly moved up to a purple belt this year.  He's been able to compete in two tournaments and brought home first place in his "Kata" and second in sparring both times.

 During the summer he swims.  He's been doing this a couple of years and that upper body strength helps him get to the other end pretty quickly.  He's working on getting his dive and strokes down and is hoping to grow some gills....

They started a club at his school for lego Robots.  The kids program the robots to do certain tasks.  They also had to come up with a solution to keep food safe.  Then they compete with other teams.  They actually qualified during the first competition and went to state where they were in the running for rookie team of the year.  This is right up Isaac's alley and it's something he and dad can do together too.  (Isaac is very much his father's child).

Isaac is also a funny boy who makes us laugh all the time.  His conversations run from discussing splitting atoms and pulling his finger kind of jokes.  He's super smart, moves up a grade in math and argues with us all the time....to the point where he now starts an argument with, "Mom, I'm not arguing with you, I just want to discuss why I think it should be....."

This year

besides going to a myriad of sporting events we had a chance to go to Hawaii for Jason's cousin's wedding.  One of our best vacations ever!

And, in case you were wondering, Jason and I also have a life...well sort of.  Jason's working at Perficient, and has been there eleven years.  

I quit my job as a dialysis nurse (being on call, beepers going off at 2 in the morning, driving to Denver Health during a blizzard and working 20+ hours a day -- all too hard on a family) and took a job as a school nurse.  The job itself is interesting and the hours are perfect to help raise our two active boys.  It's the best of both worlds (although I do have a soft spot for dialysis, it was a lot of fun and really interesting!).  I'm almost done with my Master's in Nursing (next April!). Not sure yet what I'll do with that, but I know for sure I'm going to take time off before deciding.

All in all we've been very blessed, we have two such great boys, live in a great neighborhood, everyone is happy and healthy.

Our prayer for you all is that you too find yourselves in good health and are happy.

Have a wonderful and blessed holiday!

Love,

The Zimmers

Jason, Tracey, Jake and Isaac

Scrabble Tile Wall Art (my mother's day gift 6 months later)

I so ripped this idea off from Remodelaholic, a ridiculously cool blog all about crafts and decorating.  I emailed the link to Jason, last April with a note that said, "possible mother's day gift". In November, Jason asked what I would like for Christmas and I said, "my mother's day gift".  He looked sheepish.  The instructions on the Remodelaholic blog were pretty simple.  But I'm married to an engineer.

Do I need to say more?

 After four or five visits to various hardware and lumber (not lumbar, like I originally typed - thanks Martha for picking up where spell check is weak), places, he settled on some douglas fir posts around 4x4.  Did you know that 4x4's are not actually 4x4?  He then meticulously sawed a bunch of tiles out of that and sanded them.

 Hannah wondering what we're doing in 'her' back yard.

 After sanding he tried out a couple different stains and decided to just go with a clear polycrylic coat.  Look how cute he was balancing each tile on styrofoam cups so that they dry nicely.

 We went to a bunch of craft stores to find vinyl stickers or stencils.  He even called some area vinyl lettering companies. We either couldn't find any with the right font or the right size to get the correct scrabble tile dimensions.  I would have been fine with them not being 'perfect', but, have I mentioned I'm married to an engineer?  He found the font online, sized them to the correct size and then printed them on freezer paper in a mirror image and transferred them to the tiles.

 Then went over them with a sharpie.  Below is what it looked like when he printed them out.

 I can't find pictures of the next steps.  The remodelaholic website hung each individual tile with hooks. Jason wasn't sure that would work that well, especially in the high traffic area of the front hall (I actually think that's the only hall we have on the first floor, but doesn't it just sound more grand, front hall).  Anyhow, he glued then drilled them to strips of thin wood, leaving a couple of the end letters off.  He attached it to the wall by drilling the empty spots then glued those tiles on.  It's so up there.

 Need I point out from first paragraph that there was the first email to Jason in April about what I wanted for Mother's day and then my next mention was in November.  I do believe I showed tremendous restraint in not nagging, cajoling, guilting or strong arming to get what I wanted.

Good things come to those who wait -- I love my mother's day present.

Linking Here:

home is where my story begins

Home Made Christmas Ornaments

Every year I throw an ornament exchange party and as a party favor give my guests a home-made ornament.  I can't say that every year it is a success, but sometimes the ornaments turn out great.  This was one of those years.  These were super easy but seriously time consuming.  The original idea came from here which I of course found on Pinterest

 The original directions said to use 4" balls, because I was making so many, I went with 1.5" balls.  Because the balls were so much smaller, I couldn't add the extra bow at the top.

Materials:

• 1.5" styrofoam balls
• Cardstock
• Pearl head pins
• Ribbon: 1/4" 

 I ended up emptying out all the local craft stores of these guys and had to make an emergency online order, but could only find red ones, not pearlized ones, they were still cute.

 Forget about the 1/2 inch ribbon in this picture, I took this picture when I thought I could still do the bow.

 Punch a lot of daisies.....Ended up going through two whole punches.

 Double up on the daisies and position the two to have more petals, place on the styrofoam ball and anchor with the pin.

 Take your ribbon, cut and loop (I used a velvety ribbon, because I liked it, not for any other needed reason)

 Anchor ribbon to ball with a pin and a daisy.

 Then just start pinning daisies all of the ball until completely covered.

et viola.  I made about 30, thankfully a couple people who RSVP'd didn't make it and my mother-in-law doesn't do a tree because I had just enough.  I need to make a couple more this week for Christmas Eve (and for myself).  It was the easiest ornament I have ever made, but amazingly time consuming.  It took about 1/2 an hour for each one. And...I may have a touch of carpel tunnel from the whole punch.

Still worth it

Linking up here:

thrifty decorating
home is where my story begins
a bowl full of lemons