5 Ways To Know When You Have Been Back Home For Too Long

I don’t know about everyone else, but school breaks are never as stress-free and relaxing as I expect them to be. During my final exams right before I leave for home I daydream about long relaxing hours of reading books and baking. I picture waking up refreshed each and every morning with my schedule free as the birds to whatever the heck I want. And finally, in these imaginary fantasy lands that I long for as I’m studying, I see a wonderful, smiling family who never fights, never bickers, and who reside in rainbow-lined cottages among the clouds…

As that ridiculous ending already clued you in on, being home for three weeks straight is no walk in the park. Would I have rather been someplace else? Of course not. I love my family and I’m glad I got to spent all of that time with them. However, sometimes there is something as being together TOO much. And so, for today’s Thinking Out Loud I have come up with my personal list of…

1. You start to notice those little quirks in your family members that you had forgotten about. Like the fact that your mother will not answer the phone if it is an unknown number. “Really? What are they going to do? Reach through and kidnap you?”

2. You start to get so bored that playing Ninja Kiwi with your brother starts to sound appealing. “Tell me again- where should I put the dart monkey to destroy the most amount of balloons?” Just NO.

Note: This is not my picture. I was never able to get past easy.

3. You start to get annoyed by the littlest things. Somebody forgot to wash their plate before loading the dishwasher? Watch out for Godzilla with the reign of terror that you are about to inflict on your unsuspecting sibling.

4. You start to clean up after everyone else’s messes as well as your own. This is NOT acceptable. Leave now before you enter the land of no return.

Okay, not entirely, but sometimes it really does feel this way!

5. You start to dream about being back at school. Literally.

Needless to say, I am ecstatic to be back at school… even if it is only for 5 days before I return home for a holiday weekend.

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Now go make sure to check out all of the other thinkers in Amanda‘s link-up!

 

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Questions for you:

• Have you ever experienced a similar situation when coming back home for an extended period of time?
• What little quirks bother you?
• When was the last time that you were a “Godzilla” too?

Marvelous/Not So Marvelous… And an Oatmeal Recipe

Marvelous is… the fact that I found an old bag of black licorice cough drops in our medicine cabinet.

Not so marvelous is… the fact that I even NEED cough drops due to “the plague.” 😉

Marvelous is… watching the first Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles with my mom.

Not so marvelous is… now I’m craving pizza.

Marvelous is… celebrating one of my friend’s birthdays tomorrow.

Not so marvelous is… if I don’t get over this cold/virus/whatever-it-is I won’t be able to go.

Marvelous is… making breakfast on an actual stove every morning for my parents.

Not so marvelous is… Okay, I can’t really find anything wrong with this oatmeal. Ha.

Banana and Maple Pecan Oatmeal

Gluten/Wheat-Free, Vegan, Nut-Free Option (in Notes below)

Makes 1 serving

Ingredients:

• 1 cup liquid (1/2 cup water + 1/2 cup milk)
• 1/2 cup quick oatmeal
• 1 tbsp ground flaxseed (ground chia would work too)
• 1 tbsp sweetener
• 1/2 banana
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• dash of salt
• “Maple pecans”: 3 tbsp pecans, 1 tbsp maple syrup, 1/8 tsp cinnamon, dash of salt
• optional toppings (I used melted almond butter)

Directions:

1. Heat liquid on high until boiling. Add oatmeal and flaxseed. Reduce heat to medium and stir occasionally for about 5 minutes or until thickened.
2. Slice the 1/2 banana on top of the oatmeal. Stir and let sit for a minute until the banana gets soft. Using a fork whip the oatmeal incorporating the banana until smooth. Mix in the cinnamon and salt then pour into a bowl.
3. In the now empty pan put the pecans, maple syrup, cinnamon and salt. Heat on medium until the syrup begins to boil and thicken. Pour onto the oatmeal and top with optional toppings.

Notes: To make this vegan/dairy-free use a dairy-free milk like almond milk or coconut milk. You could also just use all water for the liquid to make it nut-free but it won’t be as creamy. For the nuts, feel free to omit or replace with a nut-free version like sunflower seeds, pepitas, a diced banana or apple.

Marvelous is… doubling the recipe to make it for two.

Not so marvelous is… not having the right-sized pan and the liquid spilling over causing your stove to smoke. My bad.

Marvelous is… the truckload of Christmas pictures that I have to share with you.

Not so marvelous is… having to upload and edit them all.

So while I get on that, make this oatmeal, pop in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and get to reading some of the other posts that are linking up to Katie’s Marvelous in my Monday.

Hopefully I will be feeling better and able to comment on some of your posts that I’ve missed in the past week or so. Time to return to the land of the living! 😉

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Questions for you:

Which Ninja Turtle is your favorite? I’m partial to the one in red, Raphael. 

According to Nickelodeon’s survey though, I’m DONATELLO!

Like Donatello, you are a brilliant inventor. You may not make all of the Turtles’ gadgets, weapons, and vehicles, like he does, but you’ve got the brains for it! But sometimes you and Donnie are too smart for your own good, like when you’re too busy admiring an enemy’s futuristic laser cannon to run for your lives. But when it comes down to it, it’s other people’s lives that really keep your head in a mission. You fight with your heart, and that makes you a very powerful warrior.

What’s your favorite cough drop flavor? Black licorice obviously.

Have you gotten all of your Christmas photos/recaps up yet? I’m pretty sure I’m the last one…

All About New Years 2013 (Plus NYE WIAW)

Hello WIAW-ers! How is your year going so far?

I’m sure you all have started, or have at least began thinking about your New Year’s Resolutions. Last year I refrained from making a specific list and instead decided upon a simple goal. A goal to be more proactive.

I don’t really like being confined to specifics, so in 2013 I’m going to follow along the same lines as last year and pick just one generalized resolution:

Try New Things.

A few “new things” that I want to try include:

Joining a new group at college
Following a Bible devotional
Experimenting with a new-to-me food
Reading a different genre of book
Trying out an exercise class
Blogging about a topic other than food/health

Other than making it a goal; however, I’m not going to set any specific events or get down on myself if I don’t complete tasks by a certain date.

New Year’s Resolutions in the late 1800s were about becoming a better person through doing good works or making an effort to improve your character. Today, someone’s typical New Year’s Resolution is focused on becoming better superficially.According to my trustworthy trusty friend Wikipedia, the typical teenage girl’s resolution focuses on improving her body, hairstyle, makeup and/or clothing.

A resolution is supposed to be a lifestyle change. Normally I am a pretty withdrawn, not very social person. Sometimes this can lead to missed opportunities, or just sheer boredom. That’s not to say that I am going to suddenly change overnight from an introvert to an extrovert, but I am going to make a conscious effort to try new things, and make the most of this new year.

As a sort of closure from 2012 and lee-way into today’s WIAW post, I want to give the top 5 WIAW posts on Eating 4 Balance. I’ve said before that I want to be transparent, so I’m also going to give you all a link to my blog’s Annual Report with my stats.

Best of WIAW from 2012:

1. WIAW- Randomness, Workouts and Recipes (62 comments) October 2012
2. Jammed Packed Weekend, Recipes and WIAW (39 comments) September 2012
3. Wiaw While Packing for College (Pumpkin recipe) (20 comments) August 2012
4. WIAW + Fun Foods Survey (59 comments) November 2012
5. What I Ate/Watched Wednesday (44 comments) October 2012

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Now for this week’s WIAW- What I Ate on New Year’s Eve While I Babysat.

Right before I left for babysitting, I made some carrot juice to drink, and I prepared my supper in some thermoses.

When I got to the kid’s house at 3:00 PM they showed me their Christmas presents and then we watched some Disney Channel.

After that the girl and I made some colorful snowflakes and decorated their kitchen.

Then it was time for supper. For them I made homemade macaroni and cheese:

For myself I had some homemade soup with zucchini noodles, beef, beef broth and sea salt:

After that we played Parcheesi and watched Despicable Me while we colored and drew pictures (sadly I forgot to take pictures of our drawings! I drew a Bird of Paradise and one of the minions from Despicable Me). Here’s a goofy photo of me instead:

At 10:00 PM their parents came home from a night of The Hobbit and a texas roadhouse to eat. The snow near the roads had started to drift and the family all got in their big truck (the kids still in their pajamas) to follow me home and make sure I arrived safe. So nice!

When I got home my brother and his friends were playing video games and my parents were upstairs watching a movie. Immediately I went to the kitchen to heat up another large mug of soup, this time with kabocha squash!

I read some blogs in our office and after some texts wishing a Happy New Years at midnight I went to bed. My brother and his friends had a much more exciting start to 2013 with carbonated juice in fancy wine glasses, and confetti poppers (of which some remnants are still strewned across our driveway).

This morning I woke up to the good news that the Senate, and this afternoon the House passed the legislation to prevent our country from going over the fiscal cliff… *Whew* That was a  close one. Happy New Year indeed!

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Have you made a New Year’s Resolution yet? It’s not too late!

What did you do on New Year’s Eve? Did you see the ball drop?

Do you ever make fresh juice? What’s your favorite kind?