Mad About Bento

There is a new interest revin' up inside of me. I am becoming addicted to Bento Boxes. This hobby is absolutely intriguing. Artistically beautiful lunches that are healthy and fun, that require no excess packaging, sign me up! I have become lost in the thousands of photo blogs of Bento Boxes and sucked into this strange culture of artistic lunch boxes. I lost control yesterday and ordered our first Bento Box. The Laptop Lunch Box, it's an American version of this Japanese tradition. I have been searching through the Bento group on Flickr for ideas and have been coming up with my own fun ways to make lunch.

I've been windows shopping on Ebay where the Bento supply stores are seemingly endless. The stores have great stuff like Bento Boxes and bags, sauce bottles, rice shapers, cookie cutter, food dividers and cute shaped food picks. Super fun egg molds have caught my eye. My kids love hard boiled eggs, they'll love them even more when they're shaped like a star, bear or even Hello Kitty.

I want to share Bento, is there such thing as a Bento Party?

(you're right, I have lost my mind! Do I sound like a scrapbooker yet?)

At any rate, its very affordable and Chloe needs lunch everyday. So, I have motivation even if I'm feeling tired. So it's a hobby I can manage to sustain. I think that is the best thing about it. I think I've found a sustainable hobby.

There's a Party in My Tummy

Nickelodeon has been having these shorts between shows on Nick Jr. It's a series of previews of a show called 'Yo Gabba Gabba'. At first and even second glance they are extra retarded. But somewhere between the almost nostalgic puppetry and the catchy dance beat I find this clip cute and funny.

Nic can't get enough of them and the other kids enjoy them too. It never fails, at meal time I hear at least one of the kids singing this song. I just thought I'd spread some of the silliness. Enjoy!

Erin? A Routine?

Well, it's been a over a month now, so I think it's pretty safe to say that I'm actually starting to form a routine. I know, unbelievable, isn't it?

I've been washing my face in the morning and at night, separate from my shower, for most of the summer. I've never worn makeup so I've never been worried about really washing it at the end of the day. But my achne was starting to cause me physical pain and since my dad had to have some cystic achne removed surgically when he was my age I figured I should really crack down on the problem. I've caved and purchased proactiv (yes, the stuff from TV). I've been using some store bought face wash earlier this summer and it wasn't doing the job. I have to say I feel that while there have been a few small surface breakouts, my overall complexion is better and I haven't had any painfull cystic achne since I started the Proactiv system.

I'm doing laundry each night before bed, two loads washed AND FOLDED AND PUT AWAY EVEN. I'm excited that I'm actually getting the folding and putting away part done but extremely DEPRESSED that even with the two loads a day I cannot keep up with the amount of laundry a family of 5 produces. It's more like 4-5 loads a day. I have to proclaim that little laundry bags are genius and anyone with kids needs to have them. The kids put their dirty socks and underwear in the bags at night and a few times a week I wash the whole bag. No more sorting and searching for socks, that save me a lot of time and headache.

Nic is pretty much potty trained now, poop and everything. He still suffers from constipation that hurts him so much. But he goes willingly to the toilet and sits there for the 40 minutes or more that it takes him to cry the stool out.

I've got the kids doing chores again, they're being very good about it. Rarely do they complain and they don't ask for the TV to be on if they know they've not done enough of their tasks. Right now Ainsley and Dominic are creatively playing (not zonked out in front of the TV), they've done enough chores to watch 1 show but it hasn't occurred to them yet because they're having too much fun! (LOL I just heard Ainsley say, "Whoa, THAT WAS STUPENDOUS!")

The chore list is as follows:

• make bed
• bring down laundry
• 30 minutes of outside play (it may seem silly but it's really important)
• 20 minutes of reading
• Homework or Coloring Time
• Chloe loads the dishwasher, Ainsley empties dishwasher and Dominic Feeds Malcolm

So, for my family who likes to sit and watch TV or play games, that 30 minutes of play time is important. It gets Chloe used to physical activity outside of gymnastics and helps get her blood flowing to her brain so that her homework sticks better. I've seen a tremendous change in the kids activity level, without complaint, since we added the play time to the list. Before, when I'd suggest that the kids play, I would get some whining about the weather or about being too tired. It's nice to just ask if they've done all their chores and to have them figure out what they need to do and do it themselves.

So, now is the precarious, "will we keep this up" stage of the game. I've been in this nirvana before. Just after I start to think we've got it down, a wrench is thrown in the works and we seem to get thrown out of our happy little routine.

My backyard is in serious need of weeding. I've been trying to get out there for a few weeks now, but I don't want to go it alone. The lawn is 6" too long and our lawnmower blade needs to be sharpened. I have a birthday party to plan and our 8th year anniversary is coming up. Camp Fire is just around the corner, need to get moving on some lesson plans. So I foresee a lot of "wrenches" in the next few weeks.

Can she avoid getting thrown off track? Will she be able to add new tasks to her already dauntingly busy schedule? Will her children mutiny against the 30 minutes of required playtime?

Tune in for the continuation of Erin in Nirvana....

Okay, So I'm a Nerd

We rented the Last Mimsy today. It's the first movie we've rented in 5 or 6 years. But my family was over visiting and we wanted to show off our nice new TV. So, we went down and got an account at Blockbuster so we could rent The Last Mimsy and How to Eat Fried Worms.

I really enjoyed the movie. It has that ET feel but with a much updated storyline. The kids were entranced and everyone was happy at the end. It is a good family movie with a lot of heart and imagination. We all knew that Rainn Wilson (from The Office) was in it but other than that there were very few actors I could name and as stated in a blog I did from last year, I'm pretty good at doing that. Kenny pointed out Michael Clark Duncan (from The Green Mile). Other than a few vaguely familiar faces, my star naming ability was not happening.

Then I saw Brian Greene, one of the worlds leading string theorists currently he is a Professor of Physics and Mathematics at Columbia University in New York. I realized, that of all the people to recognize I recognize a famous physicist. I have again helped solidify my position on this earth as a Supreme Nerd, a title given to me a few years ago by an online "how much of a nerd are you" test. I am so interested in math and science now, wish I had focused a little more in school.

Ainsley at the Fair

Ainsley is in the back row... those kickovers are sure hard!