the tough take a moment.

Crash, splat, spill … I knew what that sound was. The remnants of my 5-year-old’s breakfast crashing to the floor of the car and spilling all over it. I looked back to confirm my fears and then … I had to laugh. Really, I had no other choice. It was my last defense. I had already endured the shrieks of “you hurt me!” The reasoning behind this accusation being … I had shut the car door, this caused the car to vibrate, this caused my 5 year old to fall, this caused her to hurt her hand. Hence: “you hurt me!” No wonder mothers take up so much of therapists’ time! I’m sure motherhood must take up even more.

As I drove back home without her all I could think of was taking a moment to honour myself in some way.

Since having kids I’ve tried to incorporate a little self nurturing into more and more of the moments of my life. I find it’s my attitude more than anything. I don’t think I do things all that differently, but I try hard to look at them differently. For example, when I wake up in the morning (I’m definitely NOT a morning person), I take a minute to reflect on what my day will be like. I try to think some positive thoughts before jumping into the madness that is our typical school/work morning rush. It may be as simple as “today’s going to be a great day,” or “I’m so lucky to have such great kids.” This is especially helpful when the kids have been whiny, confrontational, argumentative, irrational, sleep-deprived, sick, grumpy - you know, when they have been kids!

My ritual this morning is going to be to have a really good cup of coffee. The pot is brewing right now. Steaming hot, dark, strong, with cream (so much better than milk) and maybe a little Splenda. I’m going to sit, enjoy it, honour myself and then leap right back into life. Wish me luck.

This is a yummy take-off on nuts and bolts. Since my kids won’t eat nuts (and they’re not allowed to take nuts to school anyway), we developed this nut-free alternative. This version is far better than the commercial brands - way less salt and open to endless variations. If you don’t want to make such a big batch, halve all the ingredients. Alternately, if you want a really big batch feel free to double or triple the recipe.
If you don’t have enough grey hairs yet, I highly recommend cooking with your children!

Missy T’s Munchie Mix

Preheat oven to 250 degrees Farenheit.

Ingredients:

2 cups pretzels (stick pretzels, ABC pretzels, mini twists, lower sodium, etc.)

2 cups goldfish crackers (President’s Choice gators, mini Ritz, etc. work well here too)

2 cups Crispix cereal (these get really crispy and yummy)

2 cups Cheerios cereal (can use multigrain or a sweet version like Apple Cinnamon as well)

3 tbsp unsalted butter (I prefer unsalted butter but you could also use a trans-fat free margarine like Becel; keep in mind Becel is saltier)

2 tbsp Worcestershire sauce (use less if you don’t like it too savoury)

1/8 tsp garlic powder

1. In a 9″ x 13″ pan, mix together the pretzels, goldfish crackers and both cereals.

2. Melt the butter in a small bowl in the microwave (30 to 60 seconds). Add the Worcestershire sauce and garlic powder. Mix well and pour over the munchie mix. Stir well to thoroughly distribute the liquid.

3. Bake in a 250 degree F. oven for 30 minutes - stir every 5 to 10 minutes.

4. Remove from oven and cool before eating. Warning - this stuff is addictive!

Since this is way too many carbs for my diet I was thinking that a nutty version with similar seasonings may prove to work really well for me. I’ll do my best to develop and post a recipe.