Tidbits

Every once in a while my brain is just full of ideas that don't necessarily have much to do with each other. Today I'll call them tidbits. In the past I've referred to these thoughts or ideas as mishmash. Same same. And because these ideas aren't important enough to devote an entire blog to, I don't. I'll just invite you into my random thoughts.

Thought No. 1
Teach your children to eat fruit whole. Doesn't sound earth shattering does it? It is amazing though. As a mom and as a person who works around lots of kids, I can tell you this is important. I have witnessed more than one child look at a whole piece of fruit and not know what to do with it. If it isn't sliced, diced and peeled, they have no clue. Teach them how to peel a banana. Chomp on an apple. Eat a strawberry by holding the stem. This all sounds so easy. But if this hasn't been taught to them it's not. And then the frustration sets in for kids. Then the really sad thing happens. Instead of trying to eat, the fruit gets tossed. Same goes for veggies. It all stems back to the basics.

Thought No. 2
Right turns. I gave Gracie a lesson on right turns the other day. We were running errands and it was rush hour. She asked why I passed one of our stops. I told her that we would stop at that business on the way back from another stop. Why? I told her about this fantastic study that UPS did on time wasted by waiting to turn left. That most of their drivers have routes that keep them turning right unless it is absolutely necessary for them to turn left. It saves time and gas. So I told Gracie we are following the advice of UPS. We will stop at that destination on our way home when we can turn right into their driveway. Saves time and money and I'm all for it. I also told her that a student in driver's ed class, a girl I believe, is the one who came up with the idea that it is safe to turn right on a red light. Every once in a while I amaze my daughter.

Thought No. 3
I'm training for a marathon. Ok, a half-marathon. And I'm not running. I'm walking. My daughter said to me the other day that she's pretty sure she could walk 13 and some miles without training. I said, I'm pretty sure I can, too, but this is my excuse to get moving. And I have until September. I'm doing this with a group of friends. It's more about being friends and committing to something than it really is about the exercise. The benefits of the "training" though will hopefully be great. I'll keep you posted.

Thought No. 4
I've worn shoes twice since Christmas. Sounds crazy, right? Well, with all this snow I put on my boots every day to go about my business. And when I come home I take off my boots and slide on my slippers. Twice people. Two times. It bears repeating. I may be sick of snow. I'm trying not to be. I actually like snow. But it's been so cold! I haven't been able to enjoy it as much as I have in the past. So I'm looking forward to clogs, tennis shoes and sandal weather.

I'll leave you with my final thought. With all of this cold weather and all of the germs out there, I've been doing a lot of hand washing. And in my job there is a ton of hand washing, but not always a lot of time to apply lotion. So I get these tiny little splits in my skin at the tips of my fingers. Thankfully not too often. A couple of weeks ago I had a particularly bad cut/split. It would not heal. Lotion, gloves, more creams and even super glue didn't heal it. I complained about it often and to many. I'm not usually much of a complainer, but this was serious. And I had a mantra that went along with my complaint every time. You can ask anyone in my family. It went like this, "do you know that this tiny little cut at the tip of my finger hurts more than my c-section did?" And believe me after a few days they all would answer when I asked, "do you know how much this tiny cut hurts?---Yes, we know, more than your c-section." Now all I have to do is hold up that finger. No, not THAT finger. And they all reply on cue--c-section. Sorry. I'm not usually one for being overly dramatic, but it seemed appropriate.!

©2011 Ann M. De Broux