Sunday, May 23, 2010
"All I Ever Needed to Know, I Learned In Kindergarten"
Matthew's program included an excerpt from Robert Fulghum's book, "All I Ever Needed to Know, I Learned in Kindergarten." I am going to include it below, it's one of my favorites.
All I really need to know about how to live and what to do and how to be, I learned in Kindergarten. Wisdom was not at the top of the graduate-school mountain, but there in the sand pile at school.
These are the things I learned.
*Share everything.
*Play fair.
*Don't hit people.
*Put things back where you found them.
*Clean up your own mess.
*Don't take things that aren't yours.
*Say you're sorry when you hurt somebody.
*Wash your hands before you eat.
*Flush.
*Warm cookies and cold milk are good for you.
*Live a balanced life - learn some and think some and draw and paint and sing and dance and play and work every day some.
*Take a nap every afternoon. (My note, yeah right!)
*When you go out into the world, watch out for traffic, hold hands, and stick together.
*Be aware of wonder.
*Goldfish and hamsters and white mice and even the little seed in the styrofoam cup - they all die. So do we.
*And then remember the Dick-and Jane books and the first work you learned - the biggest word of all - LOOK!
Everything you need to know is in there somewhere. The Golden Rule and love and basic sanitation. Ecology and politics and equality and sane living. Take any of those items and extrapolate it into sophisticated adult terms and apply it to your family life or your work or your government or your world and it holds true and clear and firm. Think what a better world it would be if all - the whole world - had cookies and milk about one o'clock every afternoon and then lay down with our blankies for a nap. Or if all governments had a basic policy to always put things back where they found them and to clean up their own mess.
And it is still true. No matter how old you are - when you go out into the world, it is best to hold hands and stick together.
Love it! Love you Matthew!
All I really need to know about how to live and what to do and how to be, I learned in Kindergarten. Wisdom was not at the top of the graduate-school mountain, but there in the sand pile at school.
These are the things I learned.
*Share everything.
*Play fair.
*Don't hit people.
*Put things back where you found them.
*Clean up your own mess.
*Don't take things that aren't yours.
*Say you're sorry when you hurt somebody.
*Wash your hands before you eat.
*Flush.
*Warm cookies and cold milk are good for you.
*Live a balanced life - learn some and think some and draw and paint and sing and dance and play and work every day some.
*Take a nap every afternoon. (My note, yeah right!)
*When you go out into the world, watch out for traffic, hold hands, and stick together.
*Be aware of wonder.
*Goldfish and hamsters and white mice and even the little seed in the styrofoam cup - they all die. So do we.
*And then remember the Dick-and Jane books and the first work you learned - the biggest word of all - LOOK!
Everything you need to know is in there somewhere. The Golden Rule and love and basic sanitation. Ecology and politics and equality and sane living. Take any of those items and extrapolate it into sophisticated adult terms and apply it to your family life or your work or your government or your world and it holds true and clear and firm. Think what a better world it would be if all - the whole world - had cookies and milk about one o'clock every afternoon and then lay down with our blankies for a nap. Or if all governments had a basic policy to always put things back where they found them and to clean up their own mess.
And it is still true. No matter how old you are - when you go out into the world, it is best to hold hands and stick together.
Love it! Love you Matthew!
Kindergarten Graduation, 2010
I am very sentimental writing this post. It's been a big, fast year for my family. Being injured for a large part of the year seemed to make it go by at light speed.
This Tuesday, May 18th my original baby, Matthew graduated from Kindergarten. I can't believe that he is already finished. Just like all young moms, I thought my house would be filled with babies forever! Now I am down to just one during the day. Where does time go!?
Here is my handsome Matthew, complete with cap and gown. (I don't know when you started wearing cap and gown at a kindergarten graduation, but it sure looks cute.)
This Tuesday, May 18th my original baby, Matthew graduated from Kindergarten. I can't believe that he is already finished. Just like all young moms, I thought my house would be filled with babies forever! Now I am down to just one during the day. Where does time go!?
Here is my handsome Matthew, complete with cap and gown. (I don't know when you started wearing cap and gown at a kindergarten graduation, but it sure looks cute.)
Matthew Derek Samuel May, 2010
Wednesday, May 12, 2010
Keeper of the Fish
So I get a phone call the other day.
The caller ID says The Linn Group. Hmmm... I am thinking. That seems somewhat official, maybe I should answer it.
So I answer and a male voice asks, "Is Michael Samuel there?" (Weird, I am thinking.)
Ummm No, this is his mother, may I ask who is calling?
"This is so and so (you can't expect me to remember names), I am calling from the Linn Group. We are an investment banking firm in Chicago."
My wheels are turning, but things are starting to come together....
I ask, "Michael is my twelve year old son. Did he leave you a message or something? How did you get our number?" (You may think that's a little odd, that I would wonder if Michael would have called an investment banking firm and left a message, but it is actually plausible to me.)
Well, this is the number he left us in his email. Let's see, the email is... and as he reads the name, you can hear things coming together for him... keeperofthefish @ .... okay, nevermind, thank you and he hung up. I bet I assume correctly that business moguls around the world's email don't include the word "fish" very often and even less, "keeper of." (It is a clever name though, don't you think?)
I really got a chuckle out of that phone call. I mean, obviously we need to give Michael a little lecture on handing his phone number out to investment banking firms on the internet, but now it makes much more sense as to why we've been recieving "Investors Business Daily" in the mail. (True story.)
I wonder if that guy told anyone around the water cooler at work?
The caller ID says The Linn Group. Hmmm... I am thinking. That seems somewhat official, maybe I should answer it.
So I answer and a male voice asks, "Is Michael Samuel there?" (Weird, I am thinking.)
Ummm No, this is his mother, may I ask who is calling?
"This is so and so (you can't expect me to remember names), I am calling from the Linn Group. We are an investment banking firm in Chicago."
My wheels are turning, but things are starting to come together....
I ask, "Michael is my twelve year old son. Did he leave you a message or something? How did you get our number?" (You may think that's a little odd, that I would wonder if Michael would have called an investment banking firm and left a message, but it is actually plausible to me.)
Well, this is the number he left us in his email. Let's see, the email is... and as he reads the name, you can hear things coming together for him... keeperofthefish @ .... okay, nevermind, thank you and he hung up. I bet I assume correctly that business moguls around the world's email don't include the word "fish" very often and even less, "keeper of." (It is a clever name though, don't you think?)
I really got a chuckle out of that phone call. I mean, obviously we need to give Michael a little lecture on handing his phone number out to investment banking firms on the internet, but now it makes much more sense as to why we've been recieving "Investors Business Daily" in the mail. (True story.)
I wonder if that guy told anyone around the water cooler at work?
Tuesday, May 11, 2010
Cheesy Chicken and Homemade Rice a Roni
I made this for dinner tonight and everyone really loved it, so I'm posting it here before I forget what I did. (That happens sometimes.) And like all of my recipes lately, this makes a lot of food and everything is an approximation.
Cheesy Chicken:
About four pounds boneless skinless chicken breast
One large bag fresh baby spinach
2 containers fresh chopped mushrooms
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 brick low fat cream cheese, room temperature or soft (At my house, room temperature will make it soft.)
1 jar alfredo sauce
1/2 pound bacon
About one cup shredded cheese. (I used some co-jack and some mozarella)
Jane's season salt
As you can tell by the ingredients list, this is not low fat. You can help it out by using low fat cream of chicken soup if you like.... or you can just make it like it is and enjoy :)
Crisp the bacon in a frying pan, reserving the grease
Cut bacon into large crumbles, set to the side
Brown the chicken on both sides in the bacon grease, season lightly with salt
In a large casserole dish (9 by 11) layer:
Bag of spinach
Mushrooms on top of spinach
Chicken Breast
*In a bowl, combine soup, cream cheese and alfredo sauce. Mix thoroughly, warming in the microwave for a few seconds if needed to soften
Pour this mixture over the top of the chicken
Sprinkle the bacon over the soup mixture
Top with the shredded cheese
Set the oven at 400 degrees. Cover your dish with foil and bake for about 50 minutes, then remove the foil and bake about 20 more minutes to help it thicken
You don't want to overcook your chicken so make sure you check it. I had large thick pieces of chicken to bake, so it may not take yours as long to bake.
Homemade Rice a Roni: (In the Rice Cooker)
One and a half cups rice
One cup broken (in small pieces) either angel hair pasta or spaghetti
*Brown these both together in a combo of two tbsp. olive oil and 2 tbsp. butter in a fry pan
Finely chop 1/2 medium yellow onion
1-2 tbsp. dried parsley
Add 3-4 tsp. chicken boullion to 5 cups hot water(depends on how seasoned you want your rice)
Pour water/boullion mix into your rice cooker
Add your browned rice/noodle mix, onion and parsley
Press cook :)
This turned out so yummy. Dara, you'd like it with 1 1/4 cup rice, I think that would make the texture more "Dara Friendly"
Love you all and I hope you enjoy it!
Cheesy Chicken:
About four pounds boneless skinless chicken breast
One large bag fresh baby spinach
2 containers fresh chopped mushrooms
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 brick low fat cream cheese, room temperature or soft (At my house, room temperature will make it soft.)
1 jar alfredo sauce
1/2 pound bacon
About one cup shredded cheese. (I used some co-jack and some mozarella)
Jane's season salt
As you can tell by the ingredients list, this is not low fat. You can help it out by using low fat cream of chicken soup if you like.... or you can just make it like it is and enjoy :)
Crisp the bacon in a frying pan, reserving the grease
Cut bacon into large crumbles, set to the side
Brown the chicken on both sides in the bacon grease, season lightly with salt
In a large casserole dish (9 by 11) layer:
Bag of spinach
Mushrooms on top of spinach
Chicken Breast
*In a bowl, combine soup, cream cheese and alfredo sauce. Mix thoroughly, warming in the microwave for a few seconds if needed to soften
Pour this mixture over the top of the chicken
Sprinkle the bacon over the soup mixture
Top with the shredded cheese
Set the oven at 400 degrees. Cover your dish with foil and bake for about 50 minutes, then remove the foil and bake about 20 more minutes to help it thicken
You don't want to overcook your chicken so make sure you check it. I had large thick pieces of chicken to bake, so it may not take yours as long to bake.
Homemade Rice a Roni: (In the Rice Cooker)
One and a half cups rice
One cup broken (in small pieces) either angel hair pasta or spaghetti
*Brown these both together in a combo of two tbsp. olive oil and 2 tbsp. butter in a fry pan
Finely chop 1/2 medium yellow onion
1-2 tbsp. dried parsley
Add 3-4 tsp. chicken boullion to 5 cups hot water(depends on how seasoned you want your rice)
Pour water/boullion mix into your rice cooker
Add your browned rice/noodle mix, onion and parsley
Press cook :)
This turned out so yummy. Dara, you'd like it with 1 1/4 cup rice, I think that would make the texture more "Dara Friendly"
Love you all and I hope you enjoy it!
Sunday, May 9, 2010
Happy Mother's Day!
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