No more dry patches on baby or on You for that matter

When I wrote my post yesterday about chapped lips, it got me thinking about my little girl's very sensitive dry skin.  During the winter, like many babies, my little girl gets dry patches. Well, I have tried all different lotions to help her get back to that skin I love to touch -- that baby skin.  But nothing has worked as well as -------drum roll ------

Johnson and Johnson baby oil GEL --- the word Gel is the key to this product. I don't know why it works better than the straight up oil, but it does. Now I have to say that I don't use it alone. If I use it when my baby is still a bit damp than yes, I use it alone.  But if I am using it on dry skin, I put it on and a bit of lotion too.  I believe that the oil gel acts as a barrier to keep that moisture in.  So if you are just out of the bath/shower it keeps the water moisture in.  If you apply it with some lotion it helps keep that lotion in -- it amps up the lotion's ability to moisturize.  I am no chemist; hence, I don't know how these things work.  But I am a mommy -- I put a great deal of my energy into trying to figure out how to help my babies. I hope this can help your kiddo too.  As a side benefit, I now have super soft feet that smell like coco butter -- yum!

The cure for dry lips

I found a cure, and I want to shout it from the top of my minivan.  I feel like this information is too good.  And if I don't share it --- pay it forward --- karma is going to get me back.  So I am sharing because it is the right thing to do.

It is always so dry in Chicago during the winter.  I usually use chapstick more during the winter, as do most of us.  I don't ever really experience DRY DRY lips -- because I use chapstick.  But a few weeks ago I had such dry lips that they were cracking and hurting me.  Like wake up in the middle of the night to put chapstick on hurting me lips.  I have never experienced such dry lips.  I felt like I was drinking lots of water yet I was drying out.  I first went to my go-to-fix-it-all-fool-proof-favorite product ---- OLIVE OIL.  But sadly, it didn't help my lips.  It works on everything else; I use it for everything.  But that is another blog entry all together.  So I went to my second go to answer --  I googled it.  There are all sorts of articles, blog enteries, opinions, research out there about this very topic.  It is crazy the amount of information out there about dry lips.  Anyway ---- this worked so I am sharing.

The key was........HONEY.......

Three Steps to Cure Your Dry Lips:

Step 1 Lightly rub a toothbrush over your lips.  This exfoliates them so you start with fresh lips.

Step 2 Put a dab of honey on your finger and apply it to your lips.  Let it dry -- about 2-3 minutes.

Step 3 Put Vaseline /or  Aquaphor on top of honey.

This fixed my problem with one application.  I don't even need chapstick as much anymore.  It turns out that the enzymes in honey can disinfect and heal minor skin wounds -- chapped lips. So the honey cured my dry lips, and the Aquaphor sealed the honey on while it was doing its enzyme thing. So if I feel my lips getting a bit too dry --- I go to my kitchen and find my honey bear.  Hope this helps you too.

The Choice

I have made the choice to stay at home with my kids and send in my resignation letter.  uuuuuuh --- that was hard to say.  It is not that I don't want to stay at home with my kids; I love being with my kids.  It is just hard to say that I wrote the resignation letter.  It feels so final.  I was a teacher; I was a good teacher. I know it isn't the end for me, I know it is the right choice for my family, I know it is a decision that was a long time coming -- and some what over due,  but that doesn't make the choice any easier. The reason I put the decision off is because I loved my job; I still love it......BUT  I love being with my kids more.  I couldn't wrap my head around leaving my kids with someone else while I go to school and take care of, teach, love other people's kid. I know people do this all the time.  And I know I have heard that parents who work are better parents for it, I have heard kids are better adjusted to school life because of it, I have heard quality time instead of quantity --- BUT  it still was not the right choice for me. I couldn't do it.  And I guess that is all that counts ---- here is the letter I sent my boss

January 31, 2012
Dr. V

It is truly with a sad heart that I resign my heart song job as an English teacher in the John Hersey High School English department. I grew up at Hersey, and I became the teacher I am today at Hersey. I know it sounds cliché. I know it sounds like a throw away comment. But it is the opposite – it is absolutely my truth. I learned, I grew, and fell in love with teaching within Hersey’s walls. I love everything about my job. I love teaching students of this age; they are full of energy and questions and challenges and excitement – they keep you in an agile mental position. They are clay -- ever ready to make an impression upon – positive or negative – the choice is up to the individual teacher. I remember some days being so mentally challenged that I left physically exhausted; the students push you to work. I love that. But the students also have wisdom to share if you take the time to listen.

My department --- my department --- who doesn’t love being part of a winning team? The English department at Hersey High School was a place where being successful wasn’t good enough – it was about what are you going to do next? What is the next success going to look like? What is it we can do for the students this time? Let’s raise the bar for the students – we learned as a group time and time again that the higher you raise the bar – the higher the students can climb. Their potential is limitless. What an exciting challenging work environment where everyone is trying to do it better again and again and again. Truly a place where you can feel your daily achievements, you can feel your accolades, and you can feel your successes. I do love teaching the students, I do love the school, I do love my department, I do love feeling the self worth and accomplishments that come with the job.

BUT ……

When teaching writing to my students, I used to tell them that when using the word but in a sentence it negates everything that preceded it. Word choice – word choice – it is so critical.

In this case BUT is the correct word to use. I love all the above concepts, idea, and aspects of teaching BUT now I have children of my own. And that has been a game changer for me --- it has made me view my time differently, my priorities differently, and myself differently. So I love everything about my teaching job, except the time it takes me away from my kids.

It is truly with a sad heart that I resign at the end of this school year. But if teaching has taught me anything, it has taught me that a person’s potential is limitless, a person’s future is filled with possibilities, and a person’s life can change in ways beyond originally imagined. So who knows -- I may be back some day.

Thank you for the past 12 years,
Christine

No Cream - Cream of Potato Soup

Cream of whatever soup is my husband's favorite soup.  You got it -- it almost doesn't matter what the soup is -- it will get his attention if the word cream is in the soup title.  The first time I made artichoke soup (which I will share some other time - it is so good), my husband was convinced it was cream of potato.  It was creamy (yet had no cream), and it was potato colored.  Ever since I made that soup -- he has been asking me for cream of potato soup.  I am somewhat against making cream soups.  I feel like it is my assigned task as Sole Keeper of the Family's Health to cook as healthy as possible for my family.  Because it is a free-for-all of food choices the second we eat out.  Hence I have maintained a no-cream-soup-zone in our home for the past eight years.  But that era has come to a close.  I finally made MY version of cream of potato soup. It has a splash of half and half, but even that was a last second toss in, and I don't believe it MADE the soup.  So if you don't have it in your frig -- don't go to the store to buy it. I would say if you were unwilling to make a cream soup before -- try this version of cream of potato -- it may just change your cream soup free home - like it did mine. 

No Cream - Cream of Potato Soup

3 tablespoons butter
1 or 2 onions thinly sliced
salt / pepper
5 potatoes (keep them whole or half them)
1 box of chicken stock
2 cups water
2 bullion cubes
salt / pepper
1-2 tablespoons of corn starch

1 1/2 x 4 inch chunk of cheddar cheese cut into cubes / or 1/2 cup of shredded cheddar cheese
a splash of half and half (optional -- I added it because it was in my frig for my morning coffee)

In the bottom of a stock pot, add 3 tablespoons of butter, onions, salt and pepper on low to med heat. Once onions are softened, add potatoes (* hint they should all be about the same size), chicken stock, water, bullion, a bit of salt and pepper.  Let potatoes cook -- about 20 minutes.  Then when potatoes are cooked, pull some potatoes out and cut into bite size chunks - leave them out of the pot. Use your immersion blend to blend soup (cream). Start out with 1 tablespoon of cornstarch in a mug with some cold tap water - not a lot - just enough to dissolve the cornstarch. Mix together until there are no lumps.  Slowly add mixture back into boiling soup (soup must be boiling or you will get lumps).   Add cheese chunks, a splash of half and half (if you don't have this in your house -- forget it -- you will not miss it).  If it is not to the thickness you like, repeat cornstarch step. Add potatoes back in the soup.  Serve. If you want, you can add a bit of fresh chives to the top of the soup in each serving bowl -- and/ or a few chunks of crusty toasty hard bread.  Enjoy your no cream cream soup.

Holding my son's hand makes me cry

His perfect hand makes me cry.  Or is it the fact that he wants to hold my hand that makes me cry?  I think it is the latter. I sit between both of my kid when we eat. Zuzu, my daughter, to my right and Aidan to my left. Every once in awhile Aidan wants to hold my left hand while he eats. He says,"hold Hands mommy." It never fails to affect me. It is a moment like this when I can actually feel my heart inside my chest. His hand is so perfect, so small, so soft, so perfect, did I mention it is perfect.  There are so few things that are perfect -- I am not one of these people who believe in perfection.  I usually would say that perfection doesn't exist and the pursuit of it is self-defeating. I love being a mommy. I am not saying that staying at home with my babies is perfect all the time because it is challenging to work a full day with not even as much as a solo potty break.  But it is that moment he grabs my hand that makes the challenging moments melt away and my life feels perfect.

Pipe Cleaner Spiders

It has been raining for days now, and I am feeling the change of seasons the way all stay at home moms (or I should say stay at home parent) feel it.  No longer having the option to go outside and play is painful -- it is painful for the kids and painful for the parent. I have been trying to think of things to do inside.  I feel out of practice.  During the summer, we play outside so much that I am out of practice creating inside activities.  This craft is an easy one to start the indoor season off with -- I remember making pipe cleaner spiders when I was little.  Talk about easy craft for toddlers. I am sure you made these, and if you didn't you are never too old to give them a try. Here they are ---- 

All you need is:

black and orange pom poms (I like getting the bigger size)
black pipe cleaners
googly eyes
glue kids can use

hot glue gun (this is for you to use when the kid glue doesn't quite work; you can make some quick glue fixes)

Directions:
Take 4 pipe cleaners and twist the 4 of them together in the center.  Then glue the pom pom on where you have twisted the pipe cleaners (this is where the hot glue works better than regular glue).  Now it is time to glue the googly eyes. Lastly, bend the spider legs.  Fun easy project -- and my son loves playing with them by moving them around the house.

Happy Halloween

The perfect time for soup (Lentil Soup, That is)

When you are a soup person, there is no bad time for soup.  Unless you don't have air conditioning -- then summer can be a no-soup-zone. But if you have air, you can even find soup days in the middle of the summer.  So there might not be a bad time for soup, but there still is a perfect time for soup.  And today is a perfect soup day in Chicago.  A few days ago was the first day of Autumn, it was 59 degrees, it was cloudy and misty outside all day.  If you cannot hear the day yelling make soup today Mommy, you must be taking a nap.  And then good for you.  Today is a lentil soup day at my house. Lentil soup is comforting, healthy, and tasty.
Lentil Soup  

You have to start with the magnificent trio -- I would use the term Holy Trinity of Cooking, but it is a bit offensive, but true.  Onions, carrots, and celery.

1 medium onion
2 carrots
2 celery

salt/ pepper
olive oil
2 cloves of garlic
1   32 oz box of chicken stock (low sodium)

8 cups of water
2 bay leaves
3 - 4 medium potatoes
1   16 oz bag of lentils (wash and sift through them looking for rocks or foreign debris)
3 chicken bullion cubes
1 ham shank or hock (I prefer the shank. You can cut meat off of it and put it in your soup in the end.)
          * If you don't want to use meat, don't. It will still be tasty without it.
small piece of cheese rind (my secret ingredient)

          * Again you don't need this, but I love adding it to my soups.  It adds a saltiness to the background.
4 handfulls of pasta (I use digitali, but any short pasta will do.)

Chop the first three ingredients up, place them in a stock pot with some olive oil over medium heat. Salt and pepper them to help draw out the water. When the magnificent trio become softened (about 3 - 5 minutes), add two minced garlic cloves for about 1 minute until the flavors meld together. Then add chicken stock, water. bay leaves, cubed potatoes, washed lentils, 3 chicken bullion, ham, and cheese rind. Let simmer for a couple of hours.  If you want noodles add them in at the end.  Take the shank out and cube up into desired size for soup.  Lastly, drop pasta in soup and let boil for the amount of time stated on package.  Then shut soup off so to not over cook the pasta.  Serve and enjoy the warmth.