Category Archives: Uncategorized

Terri’s Famous Chicken Salad

Let me be honest.  I’m no Suzi Homemaker.  My idea of baking is opening up a box and adding eggs, water, and milk.  I’ve rarely been successful at duplicating a recipe.  However, I do like to cook, and can sometime sbe pretty good at it.  And I’d love to share some of my successes with you.

Just a little warning, none of my recipes, have  measurements, so if you are one who needs to follow recipes with exact measurements, these may not work for you.

Terri’s Famous Chicken Salad

This chicken salad can me served on sandwiches,  in a wrap, or my personal favorite is just to eat it with crackers. I prefer to make this ahead of time and let it sit in the fridge for a few hours or overnight so the flavors can really fuse together.

1.  Cook a few pieces of bacon and set aside to cool.

2.  Shred a whole rotisserie chicken into a mixing bowl.

3.  This next part is where you get to be creative.  The first time I made this, I tossed in a handful of pine nots and a handful of Craisins (dried cranberries).  The next time I made it, I tossed in a minced up apple, Craisins, and slivered almonds.  The key is to add things to give the salad lots of texture.

4.  Crumble up the bacon from earlier and toss that into the mix.

5. Scoop in a big spoonful of Mayo (I use the kind made with Olive Oil).

6.  Swirl in some dijon mustard.

7.  Mince up some lettuce and toss that into the bowl with everything else.

8.  Mix thoroughly.

9.  Enjoy 🙂

“Walk A Little Slower Daddy” Happy Father’s Day

Since the “World’s Best Dad” Certificate isn’t uploading, I’d like to share a cute poem for all you dads out there.  Here’s to a wonderful Father’s Day.

This is not an original poem.  I found it online in a google search.

Walk A Little Slower Daddy

For My Daddy

“Walk a little slower Daddy,”
said a child so small,
“I’m following in your footsteps
and I don’t want to fall.

Sometimes your steps are very fast,
Sometimes they’re hard to see;
So walk a little slower, Daddy,
For you are leading me.

Someday when I’m all grown up,
You’re what I want to be;
Then I will have a little child
Who’ll want to follow me.

And I would want to lead just right,
And know that I was true,
So walk a little slower, Daddy,
For I must follow you.”

A Poem For Marley and Jackson’s Papa

Dear Papa,

Since our printer wasn’t working last week, and the card I made through Walgreen’s didn’t go through, I decided to put the poem that I wrote for you for Father’s Day here.  We look forward to seeing you in a few days.

Love,

Marley & Jackson

A Poem For  Papa

We’d like to stand beside you.

We’d like to hold your hand.

We’d like to feel your guidance.

In a world so great and grand.

Will you take us camping?

Will you show us how to fish?

Will you share your wisdom?

All this, we truly wish.

Will you teach us lessons?

Will you show us how?

From little things to big things.

To things where we’ll say, “Wow!”

We want to go with you.

Wherever you might go.

We want to share our lives with you.

And let you watch us grow.

We’d like to stand beside you.

We’d like to hold your hand.

We’d like to feel your guidance.

In a world so great and grand.

Blogging Can Be Like Therapy

A few days ago I received this comment on one of my blogs.

“I stumbled across your blog in a google search last night. I wish I lived in the area of southern highlands as I do live in Las Vegas and would love to join your meetup group. I am 24 with vision of 20/400 when corrected two kids a girl 28 months old and a boy who just turned 6 months a week ago. I wanted to let you know you are an inspiration. I have been considering starting a blog about my disability (septo optic dysplasia) for years now but, can never bring myself to do it. Seeing someone else put themselves out there finally made me break down and do it.”

I myself, have Optic Nerve Atrophy which leaves me with 20/400 vision. I can’t see well enough to drive, I use screen readers on my computer and phone, I read Braille, and it took me about 20 years to come to terms with the fact that my lack of eyesight doesn’t define me. I don’t let it stop me from having a good time. And I especially don’t let it stop me from being a good mom and setting a good example for my children.

I just want to thank everyone who reads my blogs and who have chosen to follow it. I have always enjoyed writing. Back in high school, I won a creative writing contest and have a short story published somewhere. I may not be the best writer out there, and probably don’t put my comas in all the right places, but who cares.

I have to be honest, I used to make fun of bloggers. I thought it was crazy for people to be so open about themselves on the internet to complete strangers. And now I’m one of them.

I suppose some might say that I’m crazy. I suppose some might say that I’m inspirational. I suppose some might not even care.

My blog is for me and anyone who chooses to read it. It is much cheaper to write and reflect on my struggles, challenges, triumphs, and joys of parenthood than it would be to lay on a couch talking to a shrink. I am happy to share my life with you all.

To that person who sent me that comment I say, “Go for it. I wish you the best of luck with your blog. And I hope that we and our children have a chance to meet one day.”

Staying Cool and Keeping Your Cool Through the Terrible Twos

As the temperature in Las Vegas sore to triple digits, so do the intensity levels of the tantrums in our house. It seems like every day is a battle to avoiding the tantrum of the year. Here are a few things I do to stay cool through these hot times of the terrible twos.

1. Pool Play Dates:

My mommy friends and I have started taking the kids to the pool at the M Hotel. There is a large shallow area where the kids can safely splash and us mommies can lounge and catch up. I have to admit, I was a bit nervous about taking the kids to a pool without my husband to help keep an eye on the kids, but I really had nothing to worry about with the awesome group of moms that are there who help watch each others’ kids. We bought Marley one of those life jackets that fully surrounds her torso and buckles between the legs so that she can’t slip out, but she refused to where it the first time at the pool. I told her that if she didn’t want to wear her life jacket, she needed to stay right next to me. And that’s exactly what she did. She just happily splashed next to me and her little brother while the other kids ran around in their floaties. The next time at the pool, she agreed to wear her life jacket when she wanted to join me in the deeper area

When it came time for us to leave, everyone there got to witness one of those famous tantrums. Marley made it loud and clear that she didn’t want to get out of the pool. I calmly held her tight between my legs so that she couldn’t throw herself down on the hot cement and forced on a fresh diaper and dry clothes.

I learned my lesson for the next time. About half an hour before it was time to leave, I ordered a bunch of french fries as a distraction. It worked! Marley didn’t even notice that I was changing her out of her bathing suit and into dry clothes. All she cared about was shoveling fries into her mouth. And when the other kids went back into the water, she was still shoveling down fries.

2. Get a Water Table:

When getting to the pool isn’t an option, due to not having a ride or the kids being sick, we go out back and splash in the water table. What’s a water table you ask? It’s a toddler sized table that holds water for the kids to play at. This is a nice clean way to stay cool while our backyard is in mid-remodel and currently looks like a war zone.

3. Extra Long Baths:

The water table is only good for so long. When it’s over 107 degrees out, even splashing in the shade doesn’t help. This is when I let my kids have extra long baths. This also means extra water to clean up on the floor since Jackson has just recently learned to splash and he and his big sister get into splash wars.

4. B Proactive instead of Reactive:

I’ve learned that one of the reasons for the tantrums at this age is because their little brains are growing so fast that they easily get bored. This is why it is especially important to take a proactive rather than a reactive approach to the day. It’s not always easy. Don’t get me wrong. It’s a lot of work, and exhausting, but it’s worth it if it means getting through the day without a tantrum. Every 20 minutes or so, I bring out a new activity (whether it’s coloring, building blocks, drawing on her chalk board, playing pretend with toys, reading, building forts out of couch pillows and blankets, etc.) She cooks when I cook with her plato. She follows me with her toy vacuum when I vacuum. I have made a preschool-like curriculum where she works on a new letter each day. The key to success is to keep things simple.

5. Mommy Time Outs:

When toddler time out no longer work, it’s time to take a mommy time out. If you’ve never been a stay at home mom, than you truly have no idea how exhausting of a job it is. We don’t get 10 minute breaks. We don’t get lunch breaks. Sometimes, we don’t even get bathroom breaks. That is why taking time for yourself is so important. Your mommy time out can be as simple as putting on a movie for your little one and taking a nice long shower, or making daddy watch the kids for a few hours and getting out of the house.

Two weekends ago was one of those weekends where I needed an extra long mommy time out. Both kids had been sick and throwing up on me all night. The tantrums were on overdrive. We had unexpected house guests. And I had probably slept a total of 4 hours in 3 days. I told my husband, “If I don’t get a few Marley free hours, she might not make it through the weekend in one piece.” I had him drop me off for a mini facial at my own little piece of Heaven, also know as Spa Mio at the M Hotel. I had two lovely hours with just me, myself, and I in a steam room along with a 25 minute cleansing facial. It was the perfect way to recharge my batteries.

So there you have it, just a few ways to staying cool and keeping your cool through those terrible twos.

The Road Trippin’ Family

We’re pretty much experts when it comes to taking road trips.  Since it’s just us out here in Vegas, and both our families live in Northern California, we’ve put quite a few miles on the car.

Even our kids are pros.  My daughter took her first road trip at just 8 days old.. Granted it wasn’t planned, she and her still recovering mommy both did excellent.   And my son probably has close to 5,000 miles under his belt with the 2 trips he’s done.

Earlier this month we took a 2-week long road trip to Northern California.  We managed to spend lots of quality time with family,

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toured Alcatraz Island,

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 did a small hike at Mt. Tamalpais up in San Marin,

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 saw Pink Floyd at AT&T Park in San Francisco,

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 left the kids for a night with my mom and celebrated our 5th wedding anniversary at a quaint little B&B in Napa,

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 and even took the long way home down the Pacific Coast Highway stoping in Pismo Beach for the night.

Image With all the time spent in the car, we could have made it all the way to Disney World.

In order to have a successful road trip, we preplanned a tentative itinerary so that we could maximize our time spent with friends and family and minimize time spent in the car.  This is especially important when you’ve got a 7 month old, 2.5 year old, and the family dog.  I have to say it was our most successful one yet.

Now we’re preparing for a family vacation to Georgia and flying with kids for the first time in about a month.  You can be sure that I’ll be blogging about that.

 

How I Went From Being Depressed and Feeling Isolated, to Being Productive and Feeling Empowered. Part 2

So how did I manage to get myself out of that funk?  I joined my first mommy meet up group.  My daughter had just turned 9 months and she needed to learn how to socialize with other babies, and her mama desperately needed some mommy friends.  Image

I was very nervous before my first meet up.  It was almost like I was the new student all over again in high school.  What were these women going to be like?  Will they like me?  Will I like them?  What will they think of me?

I was meeting a few other moms at Child’s Play, an indoor play gym, located about 12 miles away.  I sent the organizer of the group an email letting her know that I wouldn’t be able to find her in a crowd, and let her know what I would be wearing so that she could look for me.  My husband dropped us off and said to call him when I was done.  I’m pretty sure he stood outside and watched us for a few minutes to make sure I wasn’t meeting some crazy psycho moms.  My daughter and I proceeded to play by ourselves.  No one came up looking for me.  There were a few other children about her age, and I started talking to their moms.  It wasn’t until we were getting ready to leave when the organizer of the group showed up.  She was very nice, so the fact that she was an hour late didn’t bother me much.

I joined a few other meet up groups, but I was often faced with the problem of not having transportation.  This is when I began to open up my house and host weekly play dates.  we turned our front room into a play room and had about 6 – 10 mom and their kids over once a week.

I soon had a great group of mommy friends and my daughter had lots of other kids around her age to play with.  A few of the women lived in our neighborhood and often offered us a ride to play dates.

I was now starting to feel like my old self, no longer feeling depressed or isolated.  I had fun meeting new mommies going through the same things I was going through.  I was looking forward to planning events, parties, and going out with the ladies for our mom’s night outs.

All of a sudden, that original mommy group I joined had over 100 members and I had only personally met about 20 or so moms.  It made me a little nervous that there were so many people out there knowing what we were doing and when we were doing it.  So this is the reason I decided to start my own group.

Southern Highlands Moms, Babies, and Tots is meant to bring together both working and stay at home moms who live in or near our small community.  We are all moms going through the same things and can often use a girlfriend to talk to , cry on, and laugh with.  We don’t just meet for play dates.  We have family BBQ’s, attend each others’ children’s birthday parties, and have the occasional well deserved mom’s night out.  The goal of the group is to connect moms with each other, and build friendships for ourselves, our children, and our families.

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To those working moms out there who are reading this and thinking, so this is it?  She’s happy and feeling productive because she’s planning a few play dates and going out for the occasional drink with her mommy friends? That’s not at all what I’m trying to say.

What has changed, is the fact that I feel like I belong again.  I realized that my passion and purpose in life are my children.  I am there for them every waking and sleeping minute.  Every conscious and subconscious decision is made with them in mind.

I have found the meaning of life and have chosen to share it with the world.

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How I Went From Being Depressed and Feeling Isolated, to Being Productive and Empowered. Part 1

Whether you can see or not, becoming a new mom brings on a whole new set of challenges you never expected.

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We lived in a one bedroom condo in West Las Vegas.  It was the perfect location for an active newly wed couple.  We were surrounded by great restaurants, nearby jogging trails, the gym, and just a few minutes away from Red Rock..

The bus stop was just outside our condo gates and I had no problem getting around independently.

Then it all changed.  I went from worrying about what time the next yoga class was, to worrying when the last time my daughter pooped.  I used to carry trendy purses that matched my shoes, and now I carried a diaper bag and often had old spit up somewhere on me.  So if all of that wasn’t enough of a change, I moved from a busy bustling neighborhood to a quiet posh suburb practically on the other side of the world.

My husband worked a lot since we were putting so many changes into our new home and needed the money.  We had good friends who ended up buying just 9 houses away, but they didn’t have children and both worked and were in school.  All of the friends I had made since moving to the city were either through school or through my husband.  And now I didn’t really know anyone who I could relate to with being a new mom.  I never regretted the choice I made to be a stay at home mom, but you can start to go a little crazy when you spend all of your time with a baby.  I honestly even forgot how to have a normal adult conversation.  I couldn’t think about anything that wasn’t baby related.

It never occurred to me that I might be suffering from postpartum depression.

This blog is to be continued…………….

The Case of the Missing Elmo Cup

I don’t want to brag, but I think I have one of the best behaved kids in the world.  Yes, she does have the occasional tantrum, and it’s a chore to get her to sit still to eat, but I still think she’s the best.

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I wonder if she know’s that Mama can’t see like other people.  She sure acts like it sometimes.  When we’re at the park, she never strays to far and always comes to ask me if she can do something.

Ever since she was a baby, she always gave me her bottle (and now zippy cup) as soon as she finished drinking.  I never had to search under the couch or in her toys for them.

Except for last week when we were faced with “The Case of the Missing Elmo Cup.”

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We were getting ready to see Thomas the Train at the Southern Nevada Railway Museum in Bolder City.  We were rushing around the house in order to get there an hour early, like the ticket instructed us to do.  Like usual, Marley had a muffin and her milk in her green Elmo cup.  I just assumed that my husband had put it away, since he took care of cleaning up after breakfast.  It wasn’t until the next day when she wanted her green Elmo cup again that I realized it was missing.  I searched high and low.  I tore apart her play room.  I looked in the drawers and cabinets in the kitchen (where she loved to play in).  I looked in the dog’s kennel. I looked in all of our closets, and dressers.  But I couldn’t find that dang cup anywhere.  The next day when my husband came home from his usual 24 hour shift, I told him about the missing cup.  And you’ll never guess what he said……

“I know exactly where it is.  It’s in the bottom of the pantry on the pie tins.”

Oh, and let me just tell you one more thing……our pantry has a glass door.

You might not want to continue reading if you have a weak stomach.

Needless to say, it was pretty disgusting to open up a 3 day old cup full of milk.

Never again will I assume that she gave it to her dad to put away.

Now I stick to my rule of making her bring me her cup (even if I know exactly where it is).  I never want to smell 3 day old milk ever again.

Blind Mom in the Burbs

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I’m often asked by my blind friends , “How does a blind mom do it in the suburbs?”,.  My answer , “I just do it.”  I’m also often told by  people who I meet, “I never would have guessed that you had anything wrong with your eyes.   You’re so confident and well-rounded.”  My usual response, “Are you trying to say that blind people can’t be confident or well-rounded.  I happen to know a good number of blind people who are way more confident and well-rounded than most sighted people. “

So, how do I do it?  I do it with the skills that I obtained when I decided to change my life by spending 9 months at the Louisiana Center for the Blind., also known as the Boot Camp for the Blind.  Since I have some vision I spend 8 hours a day, 5 days a week, under a blindfold (which they call sleep shades).  I learned how to use and travel confidently with a cane.  This included finding random addresses, getting dropped off and having to find my way back to the center, and finishing up with a 5.6 mile scavenger hunt around town.  I learned how to read Braille.  I single-handedly cooked a full 4 coarse meal for 40.  I learned how to use a computer by using a screen reading software, and even mastered Power Point and Excel.  And to top it all off I worked in a full on wood shop and can even show you the jewelry box that I made from scratch.

LCB’s philosophy comes from the National Federation of the Blind which says that, “The real problem with blindness is not the loss of eyesight.  The real problem is the misunderstanding and lack of information that exists.  If a blind person has proper training and opportunity, blindness can be reduced to a physical nuisance.”

Today, I am a stay at home mom with a 2.5 year-old daughter and 6 1/2 month old son.  We are fortunate that my husband has a job that allows him to support us and let me stay home to raise our children.  We live in a small master planned suburb of Las Vegas called Southern Highlands.  We decided to purchase our home here because of the small town feel of the community.  Everything I need is within walking distance.  I run an active mommy meet up group called Southern Highlands Moms, Babies, and Tots.  I cook, clean, change diapers, do loads and loads of laundry, and everything else the typical mom does.  However, we’re separated from the rest of the city by 2 miles of desert, so the fact that I don’t drive makes it a little difficult to get anywhere else.  There is no bus line here.  The pediatrician’s office is about 10 miles away.  The average temp in summer is 112 and the average temp in winter is 40.  Stay tuned, and you’ll learn how a blind mom does it in the burbs.  ImageImage