Healthcare Reform

A lot of people seem to be up in the air over this whole healthcare reform deal.

I posed a question on FB asking people to say why they were or were not in favor of the reform bill.

I got several replies from people who were in favor of the bill, or I guess now I should refer to it as a law. I did not hear from one person who was not in favor. Most said that it was not perfect, but that overall they were happy to something done.

I was not attempting to start arguments and the commentary on my FB status was very tame and friendly. I am simply curious to hear what people think as it is not often that an issue raises such a strong response.

I wondered if people even knew what the bill was about as there has been so much propoganda and rhetoric from both ends of the debate. I really questioned if people were simply reacting to what they have heard in the media.

So I will attempt to post the same question here, just to see what people have to say as I really am curious. If I get more than one response I hope that people will keep it friendly.

So comment away!

Panda Bear Cupcakes

Of all the many posts I have done on this blog, the one that gets the most hits is one that shows a picture of wizard hat cupcakes I did for #1's birthday a couple of years ago.

I decided to see if Panda Bear Cupcakes can break in to the #1 spot.

I will keep you posted.

(These cupcakes were made in honor of #2's birthday. My baby will be 9 in just a few days.)

I got nuthin'

Not much to report on here.

Let me see in the two plus weeks since I last posted I have:

• Created a dance titled, "It's Time to go to Sleep" that I perform for #1 before I tuck her in much to her horror. I keep offering to let her have friends sleep over so I can show them. For some reason she is not biting...
• I turned 38 years old.
• Went on a mini-vacation with some friends and their children to an indoor waterpark.
• Finally gotten the estimate and check for repairs on my car that was wrecked in January
• Have sort of made a decision to look at getting a new car, but not until we find out what the state budget is going to do to k-12 education and my BH's income. Hence the sort of. If the news is bad I will be repairing the car.
• Sloooowwlly getting back in to exercising regularly.
• Have been not so patiently waiting for a full on vacation that happens in July and will involve time at the beach.
• Bought a really boring swimsuit. Apparently 30 pounds less of me did not equal comfort with buying a suit that was not a basic black one piece "mom suit."
• Neglected my blog.

What have you done over the past two weeks?

Climbing up out of the rut

BH and I have been in a food rut for ohhhhhh..probably 10 years or so. (I might be exaggerating, but it sure feels that long.)

We have been trying to eat at home more, and have been fairly successful for awhile. Even during really busy times, we have managed to eat home food rather than fast food.

For quite a while last year we had a rule that we ate at no restaurant that had a drive-thru. That limits one's choices when in a hurry, and it soon became much easier in many many many ways to just eat at home rather than engage in the 4 year long debate about where we were going to eat that would be without complaining. The answer to that question is no where. There is no non-drive thru fast food restaurant where everyone at Chez Babble will happily eat. Give me a PB&J over pouty people at dinner any time.

As these things go, we eventually slacked on that rule. However recently we have gone back to our no-drive thru vow. It has been easier this time. Why I am not sure. I could try and analyze it, but I really don't want to. Feel free to share your thoughts about it if you like tho'!

BH recently stated that he thinks one reason we have not wanted to eat at home is because we eat the same thing all the time and we rarely plan meals that involve much real cooking. Real cooking meaning that we have to put some effort in to preparation, not just heating and eating.

So we have been hitting the cookbooks when menu planning lately, and planning meals that cause us to have to cook. Like with chopping and marinating and getting our saute on. I had my doubts about our follow through, but so far so good.

BH and I used to really cook quite a bit back when we were young and child free. It was one of our favorite pastimes.

Somewhere along the way after the kids came along we just forgot about it. Easy and hassle free became the name of the game for us.

I guess we are ready for the hassle again.

I think our more adventuresome cooking is having a positive effect on the children.

#1 for a while now has been far less picky and willing to try new foods.

#2. Ohhh #2. No way no how is she trying anything that she doesn't already know she likes. That means she will eat about 5 foods max.

Yesterday however...I think we may have upped her number of foods she is willing to eat. We had cheese ravioli. Man was she having a pout and attitude about dinner. (This happens everytime we have a dinner that does not involve one of those 5 foods. As I don't believe in catering this way, we encounter attitude SEVERAL nights a week. I think I am almost immune to it at this point.) But for whatever reason, and again I am not going to try and figure out the whys of it all, and just enjoy the moment. I digress. For whatever reason she decided she was going to try the cheese ravioli. Try she did and like she did. I nearly fell out of my chair. I even gave her money for trying a new food. (Yes I did, and I will do it again. If you knew what we have been through with this child and food you would be right there with me.)

Tonight she talked about trying the new chicken dish we made. She never did actually try it, but she talked about it AND there was no attitude at dinner.

Happy Happy Days!

If this doesn't keep us motivated on the path to cooking better food then I don't know what will.