College Football Season!

Ahh, the end of August not only marks the beginning of fall, but also the beginning of college football. In the south, SEC football is not only a "game" to watch, it's a way of life.

My college football love lies 100% with the Unviersiy of Georgia's Bulldogs. And this year, they're ranked #1. How freakin awesome is that?!

I'm more excited that the first game is Saturday and I will be stalking their schedule to make sure I don't miss a game.

Go Dawgs!

Corn on the Cob Cupcakes

I saw this picture on My Trendy Tykes website and thought this was too cute not to share.

The original article on how to make them can be checked out on Gourmet Mom on the Go Corn on the Cob Cupcakes

Mental Health Diagnosis in Children

Warning: Controversial Topic :)

As some of you know, I'm a counselor. I do individual, couple, children, and family counseling. One of my biggest issues is when parents want to medicate their child because their child is acting out or having some less than desirable behaviors. Why would they want to do this? Because a child + medication = an easier child to deal with.

Now I am not saying that some of the diagnoses that occur are not credible, but I would assign those to only 1-2% for children. I do not include in that small percentage MR, LD, or any other diagnosis that can be found in the disorders in infancy and childhood in the DSM-TR-IV.

The things that bother me are when CHILDREN are given a diagnosis meant for an ADULT. All of the severe mental disorders have an age range in which they can be diagnosed. There is a reason for this. Children go through so many developmental stages and with those stages they have to adjust to new feelings, etc. Adults forget that a child is just that, a child. They are not a mini-adult. They have emotions, reactions, and things they need to work through. What they do not have is the expansive verbal ability of an adult. Due to this, children act out physically. They have to make sense of what they are experiencing somehow. Yes, this causes issues in school and at home, but that's why you send your child to therapy (maybe play therapy depending on their age) to work through their issues. Then maybe, and I mean maybe, if they have gone to therapy for a prolonged amount of time and a counselor has assessed them, maybe medication could be used along with therapy. Medication does not solve all the problems a child is dealing with, it masks it.

It bothers me when parents, teachers, etc. want to take the medication route because it's easier, and "cleaner" than to send the child to therapy. Some things in life don't work with a quick fix and most mental health is one of those instances.

Wordless Wednesday

Mr. and Mrs. Johnny Cash

*Mrs. Cash is a little camera shy*

Menu Plan Monday

This is my first try at Menu Plan Monday. I'm not a novice to menu planning, when I was pregnant I would plan out the entire month and shop for 2 week at a time. Now that my life has become a bit more hectic, planning and buying for one week at a time sounds more feasible.

Without further adieu, here is my week:

Monday--Griesschnitten, applesauce.

Tuesday--Leftovers.

Wednesday--Hamburger Helper (my DD loves it), broccoli.

Thursday--Goulash, Egg Noodles.

Friday--Chicken N Dumplins.

Saturday--Asian Pork Tenderloin, jasmine rice, zucchini.

Sunday--Baked Chicken Ziti, cheese biscuits (this idea came from savvysuzie at The $200 Mission)

Recipe Roundup: Easy Banana Bread

Who doesn’t love the smell of their house while banana bread is baking? Who doesn’t enjoy baking when you have a toddler pulling on your pant legs and wanting to be picked up where you suddenly have no extra hands to do anything?

This recipe is easy to make, has only a few everyday ingredients, and is a recipe that your toddler can help with, every step of the way (and will try to eat the whole thing after it’s done )

Banana Bread

4 large, ripe bananas
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups flour (you can substitute 1 cup of whole wheat flour if you’d like)
1/2 cup melted butter or margarine
2 eggs
1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt

Mix in order given and put into a large loaf pan. Bake at 350′ for 50 minutes.

I typically just use a wire whisk and a bowl to mix this in. It works great, and you can give your little one their own whisk to help along.

The Great Green Debate

To go green or not to go green, that is the question.

I always laugh a little when people debate whether or not we should go green. If being more ecofriendly is being pushed by some sort of conspiracy. What if it is a conspiracy? What does being a little more green and a little more ecofriendly hurt? Is it that people are off-put by the idea of doing something that they really didn’t want to and it turn out to be a lie? Oh no, I recycled, saved a few trees, and the Earth isn’t in as bad a shape as I was told. I don’t know, it’s just a debate that is silly to have.

Personally, I’m trying to be as ecofriendly as I possibly can at the moment. I have reusable grocery bags, I recycle, I even have started a sad little compost pile in the backyard. I try to buy organics, well veggies and fruits mostly, but sometimes buying organic is not in our budget. The US seems to be one of the only developed countries that is far behind as far as being ecofriendly is concerned. I remember as a kid walking through Germany, seeing places on the sidewalk to recycle your glass (different colors), paper, and even batteries. Also, as far as I can remember, you had to pay for your grocery bags if you wanted to use of the plastic store ones. Everyone just brought their own and was happy to do so, never thought twice about it.

So what is your view on this topic? Why do you think so many people are against going green?

Rain Rain Go Away

Not really, I love the rain and occasional thunder storm. Fay's bands are making it all the way up to Georgia and we're getting a lot of rain and wind.

Thursday Thirteen

13 Reasons My Life Is Crazy Right Now:

1. My DH was in a motorcycle accident and broke his collar bone and scapula.

2. My DH is currently in Oregon for work (we live in Georgia).

3. My lab got run over by a car 3 weeks ago, and lived. She only has a cracked pelvis.

4. We got the estimate back for DH's motorcycle that a coworker stole and wrecked--$8,000 worth of damage.

5. We have to pay the guy for the bike DH wrecked (he was going to buy it anyways).

6. School starts back on Monday with my final 3 graduate classes.

7. I work 30 hours a week, and see roughly 20 clients, and 6 groups.

8. Did I mention DH is still in Oregon?

9. The NCE and exit exam are looming on the horizon.

10. I need to start my portfolio.

11. I have a CoSA meeting to plan for 9/11.

12. Bills are due.

13. I need sleep.

Recipe Roundup: Pfannenkuchen

Before you look at me all crazy, Pfannenkuchen loosely translated are German pancakes. But that doesn't exactly do them justice. They aren't fluffy like normal pancakes. Imagine if a crepe and a pancake had a baby...yeah, that describes them a little better. However you want to describe them, they are DELICIOUS. I grew up eating them and tonight I attempted to make them myself.

Here is the recipe:

1 cup flour
1 1/4 cup milk
5 eggs
4 tablespoons sugar

Mix together with a wire whisk. The batter will be VERY runny. Don't freak out. Take a deep breath, it's supposed to be that way.

See, runny.

Now have a pan preheating on medium heat (or if you don't want to completely wear yourself, have about 2-3 pans going). Pour a little oil into your pan, take a ladle and put some of the batter into your skillet, swirling it around to cover every inch. Wait a few seconds until the side gets golden brown, flip it, let that side get brown, and you're done. Continue until all the batter is used up.

After they're all done.

Now onto the eating part. Growing up, I always ate them with applesauce and a little sugar on it.

Getting them ready to eat.

Lay your pfannenkuchen flat, smear about 1-2 tablespoons of applesauce on top, then sprinkle with a little sugar. Roll it up into a tube. Cut, eat, and enjoy.

Eat and enjoy!

After you try these, you'll be wondering why you haven't heard of this before.

Paper Plates

Have you seen the commercial for the Dixie paper plates? The one where all the moms are telling you why they use paper plates.

Yes, I use paper plates. I use them sometimes out of convenience , nothing more. I don't buy for one second that people actually use paper plates to "spend more time with their family". Really?! Come on. It doesn't take that long to wash plates by hand or if you have a dishwasher to throw them in there. You may be missing, what, 5-10 minutes? Even then, you're not cut off to the outside world, you're doing freaking DISHES.

Ugh! I know the company wants you to buy their products, but come on, use a little better reason when you're trying to pitch it to people.

Wordless Wednesday

The Coupon Game

After reading quite a few blogs that talked about how much you can save with coupons etc, I have become intrigued. So last week and this week I clipped the coupons that come with the Sunday paper as well as the coupons in the Walgreen's ad.

Today I went to Walgreen's, and as a newbie to all this coupon galore, I think I did pretty well. I spent $8.42 and this is what I got:

2 Sharpies @ .39/piece--store coupon
Heavy Duty Forks @ .39--store coupon
Hydrogen Peroxide @ . 39--store coupon
Barbasol Shaving Cream @ .99--store coupon
Papermate Pens @ .09
Invisible Tape @ .39--store coupon
Bubble Mailer @ .39--store coupon
Dixie Paper Plates @ 2/3.79 and a .35 MC

Not bad I think for a first-timer :)

What's My Age Again?

As I was driving down the road yesterday, jamming out to "What's My Age Again?" from Blink-182 (yes, was listening to the 90's station on Sirius lol), I started thinking about my age.

In less than two weeks, I'll be 26. It's no big deal really, just finally approaching my late-20's. Do I feel any different now than I did when I was 18 or 21? Honestly, I can't for the life of me remember what I did feel like. I know I was less tired and a little thinner, since those were the years sans two year old.

What's kind of funny now though is that people have been telling me I look young. When I was growing up, I was always told how I looked so much older than my age, yadda yadda. The last few weeks, people have been telling me I look young and seem somewhat surprised when I tell them my age. Now it may have to do with my profession where most people have this image of what a therapist should look like and I don't really fit that image.

Oh well, I love where my age has put me thus far. It is just a number after all.

Cleaning Out The Freezer

Since I didn't have much to do this morning and seeing how I had some chicken that needed to be squeezed into the freezer, I decided that now may be the time to clean it out and go through what is in there.

While I was doing this, I started asking myself "why did I keep this in here for so long?" or "I completely forgot this was in here". So why do we hang on to that frozen meal that has been hanging out in the freezer FOREVER, to the point it is now pushed completely in the back? Or why do we keep those two sad little pork chops, covered in icy fur? Consciously we know the stuff probably has that horrible freezer burn taste, yet we keep our "old friends" in there, not wanting to throw it out and say "you're replaced", lol.

I know, I know, it's just food in a freezer. Now that I think about it, maybe we should all "clean out the freezer" in other aspects once in awhile. Go through the things that we no longer need or are no longer good for us, and replace it with items that will be able to nourish your body and soul.