Healthy eating habits

Really, seriously, I am working on changing our eating habits. Stop laughing. I bought wheat bread instead of the usual paste--uh, I mean white bread. I've gotten the kids used to it before and figured it was high time we started again, especially since homemade has consisted of ripping open the resealable freezer bag of whatever frozen delicacy was available for dinner. At least there was some cooking going on, right?

Today I got home from dropping the kids off at Sunday school to find Stefan making Zachary an egg, cheese, and bacon sandwich. (or, as Z calls it "egg, cheese, and HEAVEN sandwich") On whole wheat toast. Which Zachary would not eat cause it "tastes funny." Those two boys whined that I need to buy white bread because wheat bread is gross.

I said, "We need to get healthier, wheat bread is so much better for you!"
Stefan replied, "This coming from the woman that walked in the house with a box full of fried sugar dough covered in more sugar, calling them breakfast!" (otherwise known as Munchkins.........................................)

Hypocrisy? Nah, just gotta keep them confused.

Natural learning

Why in the world do I ever doubt the idea of natural learning? "Doubt it", heck I go through times when I rail against it, running wildly through the house "WE HAVE TO GET THE BOOKS OUT!" in my panicked state. Yet time and time again I see the kids all learn more, about everything every day, then they learn about specific things when bogged down by bookwork.

Don't get me wrong, I am not a text-book-basher, no siree not me! Okay, maybe I am a little bit but only certain textbooks, and only some of the time. Hey, if there's one thing I'm consistent about, its being inconsistent. Seriously when there is an issue that someone is stuck on, or a skill that is glaringly missing, out come the books.

Creative natural learning (that's what I'm calling it from now on) works, period. D has been a reluctant writer for SO long. Wait did I say reluctant? Oh laughing out loud laughing out loud (lol just would not cut it there). Hmmmm, a better word would be an ihatewritingdon'tmakemedoit writer, or thisistorture writer; I'm sure you get the picture. I know he is incredibly intelligent and mature in his thoughts and have just wanted to find a way to help him break through the self imposed writer's block he has created. Plain and simple, the one thing that has worked is well, plain and simple. Arguing takes so much energy yet its the one thing he resorts to time and time again. I finally have realized that arguing was just another stalling tactic! I know I know, duh, right? Finally he is beginning to acknowledge that only by actually writing can he progress. I edit here and there, and as long as he understands why the changes need to be done (whether grammatical, spelling, phrasing, sensical--lol just checking to see if you're paying attention), he can use my suggestions.  Here and there, he is writing pieces that he is impressed with himself. Long process, long learning curve for both of us-but when he writes his first mega-novel, the payoff will be worth it. Oh oh oh, you know I'm only kidding there, the payoff is worth it already in seeing that wall chip away bit by bit.

Well dagnabbit...

....I have ADD! Okay this is not a new revelation here, I've known it for a couple years. I firmly believe I've had it my entire life. Yes I did great in school but only until I got to college. It all came so easily for me, tests, homework, in school writing assignments, no problem. For the very few occasions that I had to write papers, I did it last minute and, on 2 separate occasions, not at all; my teachers (senior year) gave me good grades based on past performance. I attributed my lack of preparation and planning for long term projects, to procrastination and accepted that label with open arms. It was an excuse, a self-imposed joke to keep laughing even when my overwhelmed mind would have me so very close to tears. I could never "see" my way through a project, let alone problems or goals! I had ideas about what I wanted for myself but had no idea how to get there; I could see the path but couldn't figure out which transport to use to get going most efficiently, so I stumbled and tripped and occasionally would land at the destination but with no real idea how I got there or how I'd move along from there.

College was disastrous. Long-term assignments abounded and I could not do it. I didn't know to seek out help because it just didn't make sense that I, a previously straight A student, couldn't handle the workload now. I wanted to make a success of my time in school and would marvel at those that could budget their time to tackle projects and prepare and study for tests and exams and keep their dorm rooms neat and work and have time to socialize. (yes, I seriously just used "socialize" to describe what goes on in college, hey-sometimes my kids read these!) How did they do it? And, increasingly distressing to me was, why couldn't I do that, too?

Fast forward to more recent years: I began researching information about ADHD when I began to realize my older son was struggling with organization at school. (we weren't homeschooling..yet!lol) The hyperactivity wasn't there but the attention issues were undeniably present. He was a great student and always got A's. In 3rd grade his first real assignment was given--the kids had to read a certain number of pages per week. He completely shut down and stopped reading; it seemed like an unattainable goal to him, so why try at all? I told him he was reading more than the required reading on his own, but he couldn't get past the requirement. The more I researched for my child, the more I began to see myself. I was reading different message boards and came across one woman's description of her college years and it could have been written by me. She described the fog that always seemed to hover around her, making it difficult to "see" her way through the semester. I couldn't believe someone else out there understood my struggle to visualize things clearly! She began to take adderall while still in college and described that first day as the fog lifting and being able to see clearly for the first time in her life. I was getting ready to return to college and knew I had to do something; I saw my doctor and got a prescription for adderall. I was so afraid to start it-what if it made me jittery or made my heart race? I took it anyway and that began a new chapter in my life. Yes, I take adderall, there I said it out loud. Okay technically not out loud but hey, why get technical? I don't get overly active from adderall; no, if anything it calms my mind down when I've gone into overload mode. I can "see" the destination and the smaller choices I need to decide upon to get going.

So, if that was a year ago, why am I writing now? I've had some very recent new revelations. To be continued........

FYI: Wax paper may be flammable....

....and when placed on top of bacon to prevent grease splatter in oven, it may become engulfed in fire in the oven. I kinda said "oh no" (no caps on purpose), then did a little bit of a "UHHHHHHH....", and thought I should maybe think about gettin' the fire extinguisher cause the flames were shooting up over the edge of the stove even, but then guess what? The wax paper was all gone, no more fire, just some pretty ashes drifting peacefully down all over the kitchen. The end. :)

Its good to be me, cause my idiocies prevent others' disasters.