TOL And Chocolate Chip Day

 

Just about my entire post deleted itself upon publishing this morning. Be thankful you weren’t here when I realized this horrendous occurrence for then I had to calm down, suck it up and rewrite all of the words I  struggled to replicate.

Parenting thoughts:

I have a ten-year-old son. I am soon to be a 36-years-old.

Yes, I realize I am stating the obvious but sometimes I forget my baby is headed to middle school in the fall instead of Gymboree where he used to find fascination in running on top of the moving parachute while the rest of the kids sat on it for the ride.

They totally loved us at Gymboree, can you imagine?

So, now that I have acknowledged the age of my son and the soon to be age of myself, I am questioning the length of my jean shorts. At what point do I need to graduate to mom shorts?

I asked my son if my shorts were too short and he told me that how I wear mine is how all the girls where them and I am fine.

All the girls? The girls he knows ARE TEN.

This can’t be good for my image. Although between me and you, I am a bit honored that he counted me as one of the girls.

Speaking of my son, did I ever tell you how smart he is? I don’t like to brag, but he is like really intelligent.

However, I looked over his essay the other day and noticed he drew a smiley face Emoji at the conclusion of a sentence.

I informed him that the English Language does not include Emojis and they are for text purposes only.

I hate to say it, but, this whole text generation? What is our world coming to?

Running Thoughts:

How come us runners sometimes say, ” I couldn’t wait to finish that run” or “I am so happy those miles are finished.”

If you stop to think about those phrases, it almost sounds like we hate running and that really isn’t the case at all.

Perhaps we couldn’t wait to complete our run for the endorphin high produced or for the sense of accomplishment we achieve by pushing ourselves through tough miles, up a hill or to hit a specific pace.

Or maybe we can’t wait to finish because then we get to eat and everything just tastes that much better after fully exhausting ourselves.

On a similar topic, sometimes people use a poor choice of words. A friend of mine referred to my running/workout routine as strict, regimented and even included the words will power.

I associate such terms with negative situations, things you don’t want to do but push yourself to do anyway. If you know me, you know I rarely do anything I don’t want to do.

I mean, had the judge not ordered me to divorce court by stating a warrant would be out for my arrest should I not attend I never would have appeared and I probably wouldn’t have gone through labor had I been able to pass the childbirthing part off to someone else which I really tried to figure out how to do while breathing between contractions on the way to the hospital.

So yeah, I never really do anything I don’t want to do. In fact, my mother used to write me notes to get out of many a situation.

Don’t want to play gym today? Note. Don’t feel like swimming in camp? Note. Don’t want to go to school today? Note.

I always wanted a note to get out of going to work but realized that might affect getting a paycheck.

I love running. It is what I do. It is an involuntary bodily process that just goes without speaking, is part of my routine and just…well…is.

Food Thoughts:

Talk to me about maple syrup.

I would never buy the sugar free stuff and don’t want to buy the light stuff due to the high fructose corn syrup but the real syrup is super duper high in sugar not to mention pricey.

This whole picking a maple syrup thing is a completely overwhelming task which is almost leading me in the direction of the light syrup but the thought of the HFCS upsets me which then makes me question my insanity for getting worked up for an ingredient that most of America consumes without thinking.

Just tell me which to buy and I won’t say another word.

Oh, and before I go, Happy National Chocolate Chip Day.

I had a bunch of extra Hershey’s Miniatures yesterday so the natural thing to do was to bake Chocolate Chip Blondies with a layer of Hershey Bars in the center.

Who wants the Mr. Goodbars though? Peanut butter inside chocolate, yes but actual nuts inside chocolate, no. Just no.

Be sure to check out what everyone else is thinking about today!

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Bloggers – Ever have your post publish yet be missing just about the entire thing!!!???!!!!

Favorite Hershey’s Miniature?

How do you feel about your workout routine?

Ever have your mom write you a note to excuse you from something?

 

 

 

Technology Is Not For Me

 

The winner of the Momentum Wrap Bracelet Giveaway is Shannon! Thank you to everyone for entering; Shannon, I will email you this morning!

Anyone remember the TI – 82 calculator?

You know, the giant (and scary) thing they called a scientific calculator which was required in math and science classes for us to store our formulas?

I never used one. I had a harder time figuring out how to use it and store the formulas than memorizing the actual formula needed for the exams.

In case you didn’t already know, I hate technology. Always have and always will. I am old-fashioned, close-minded and don’t adapt well to modern computer processes.

I hate widgets and plug-ins, I don’t want to clear my cache and haven’t a clue what to do with things like HTML or FTP.

And, if you want to know how I really feel, I find it rude that the people who developed this computer language that I don’t care to speak made use of the word cookie. It is just not nice to throw around “cookie” when there really isn’t an actual cookie to be had.

This hate for technology completes my trio of hates:

This would be my original tag line and should I ever have the actual shirt made, please remind me to add technology to the design.

Anyway, today is Friday. Friday has become my day to play in NYC. Well, not all play I guess. I have a business type lunch meeting at Sarabeth’s and will then stick around town for a good dinner.

Remember the last time I was at Sarabeth’s? I couldn’t resist the oatmeal for lunch and was then starving because there wasn’t a drop of protein in my meal. Hmm. I am all about more carbs/less protein these days but one needs a little protein to not feel nauseous hungry so I am going to try to order something different today.

To save myself from throwing my pretty pink laptop across the room yesterday, I unplugged in order to tackle my grocery shopping in advance of the weekend.

After carefully reviewing this the sales at my local grocery stores for this week, I determined that most of what I buy is cheapest at Trader Joe’s regardless of special pricing and sales.

Yesterday’s haul:

Fresh Produce:

• Bananas
• Plum tomatoes
• Broccoli
• Mandarin Oranges
• Carrots
• Cruciferous Crunch Mix
• Strawberries
• Potatoes

Frozen:

• Rice Medley – if you are still boiling your own rice, you are wasting your time
• Brussels Sprouts
• Asparagus
• Chicken Shu Mai
• Blueberries – Um hello, where are the decent priced pints of fresh blueberries these days?

Pantry:

• Organic Chick Peas
• Organic Black Beans
• Refried Beans
• Organic Spaghetti Sauce
• Coconut Oil Cooking Spray
• Reduced Guilt Popcorn – I am obsessed at the moment.
• Pepper
• Semi-Sweet chocolate chips
• Whole Wheat English Muffins

Notes regarding my purchases:

*Ever since I announced that my son and I are all about the Wild Frozen Shrimp, they stopped selling it, I can’t find it at any of the locations and it isn’t polite.

*My son has developed an expensive palate and requests to go out for Japanese food several nights a week which just isn’t happening so I compromised and bought him Chicken Shu Mai to satisfy his need for restaurant Shrimp Shu Mai.

*I am still hung up on the Fruity Pebbles so I bought Fruity O’s to make myself feel better.

I may or may not bake something with the Fruity O’s this weekend. I have it in my mind to do so but I also have a long run to look forward to, Red Mango to eat, a Little League game to attend as well as an awesome dinner in store for me tomorrow night which hopefully concludes with chocolate fudge cake.

What are you doing this weekend?

Don’t forget that tomorrow morning is s Unity Walk in Central Park. Click here to register and learn more. 100% of donations go to Parkinson’s disease research.

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Anyone else hate technology as much as me?

Bloggers, do you go insane from widgets and codes and programming for your site?

What day of the week do you do most of your grocery shopping? Do you end up in the stores more than once a week like me?

 

Thinking Out Loud…Cookies, Clouds and Care Bears

 

Boy am I glad that today just so happens to be time to link up with Amanda in order for me to think out loud.

My brain is on overload.

Not from my personal life, not from raising a little boy who thinks I am only cool when I make him grilled cheese with bacon and not from my writing workload.

My brain is on overload from the extra wide variety of apps, search engines, social media platforms, internet options and who knows what other technical words I can throw in here to get my point across.

Want to find a recipe using cauliflower for dinner? Click here, here, here or here then download and install this app and then click here.

Love the recipe? Did you take a picture? Edit now and share it simultaneously on facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Stumbleupon , Google+, Pinterest and email by clicking here!

Looking for a fitness routine? Try this search engine, app, Pinterest board, ebook, this blog or click here, here and here plus here but only here if you have upgraded your browser, cleared your cache but allowed a cookie.

When did life get so complicated and involved and technical?

I know all of these apps and platforms and internet options are supposed to help us but lately I just don’t feel assisted.

I feel drained, torn and honestly, overwhelmed.

If you haven’t learned by now, very little overwhelms me. I have a really good grasp, if I do say so myself, on remaining calm and balanced throughout every area and situation in my life.

But the internet lately? The options?

The amount of websites I am able to view THAT REALLY SAY THE SAME THING and then the option to load them all for a ride on a cloud so that they land on every device I own?

Every time I hear about this cloud stuff my brain automatically thinks Care Bears.

Call me old-fashioned but isn’t it all a bit too much sometimes?

No wonder there is such a rise in attention deficit disorder. Who can focus?

So many options, apps, gadgets and gizmos that can sync you to the latest fitness and/or diet trend, the latest must-have “recipe” guaranteeing you to become better and stronger at everything yet America is still overweight and probably even more sedentary with all this web surfing and floating on clouds.

I once knew an old-school and wise man. When he heard of all the diet crazes and fads, he only would utter two words: LESS INTAKE

Without going too far into his theory, for the most part he is correct. Eat a little less…and move a little more.

I have decided his old-school theory now applies to modern technology. LESS INTAKE.

Although, should TASTE IT! ever become a sharing button, please let me know. That may be something worth looking into.

Until then, at least in my world, the clouds are for the Care Bears and cookies still mean chocolate chip.

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*Don’t forget to check out what everyone else is thinking today over at Running With Spoons!

I NEED TO KNOW:

When someone says cookie, what’s your first thought?

Ever overwhelmed by the internet options?

 

 

 

 

 

Three Tip Tuesday- UNPLUG FROM YOUR SMART PHONES

I walked out of my house  yesterday morning with the intention of running on the treadmill but changed my mind immediately once I realized it was not cold, not raining and not windy.

What kind of fool elects to run indoors on a treadmill when they can easily run outside? So what if my usual route has been interrupted. I can carve out a new path of my own.

And I did. A 7 mile new route around my neighborhood. I had to get a bit crafty but hey, I am a lefty. Lefties are creative people you know.

I was so happy to run those 7 miles and that happiness helped keep me sane for the rest of my day which didn’t exactly go as planned.

My main issue yesterday, which I am still dealing with today, is that I got a new iphone.

Should be exciting, yes? Ha.

How would you feel if you plugged your phone in to your computer, lost all of your contacts and then your iTunes account decides it isn’t in the mood to share your apps and iTunes library with you?

Good thing I had this squash on hand to attack.

My best friend Lisa, who often says something perfect at the most opportune of moments, told me that my phone has experienced a fueng shui of its contacts and this is a good thing.

Maybe she is right.

Remember when cell phones were simple? Back when they were big and bulky and you actually turned them off when you weren’t using them? When they didn’t have contact lists? When you didn’t even know who was calling you because there was no caller ID?

Heck, remember when we weren’t all so plugged in?

At the Islanders game on Saturday, I looked around and noticed that every single person was glued to their phone.

During the singing of the National Anthem, the girl in front of me was not only snapping photos, she needed to immediately send those photos off to a bunch of friends that I watched her selecting from her contact list.

Really?

Do we really need everyone to know every single thing we are doing and seeing at every single moment?

Doesn’t anyone care to live in the moment anymore?

People are so busy reporting every move they make that they aren’t even absorbing what they are experiencing. Where’s the enjoyment?

I know we have discussed this topic before and I realize as a blogger I must remain plugged in at times and do the whole social media thing as best as possible.

But we can set some limits, yes?

 

THREE WAYS I HAVE LEARNED TO UNPLUG:

1- LIMIT SOCIAL MEDIA –  Over the summer, I decided to stop checking my personal facebook account. I realized I was refreshing that newsfeed way too often and gaining very little by doing so. It took a few days to break the habit and now? I forgot all about it.

The people that I wish to speak to, the things my friends are doing that are of importance to me I find out anyway BY TALKING TO THEM.

How many people are you reading about all day that you haven’t even spoken to, much less seen in the last few years?

Our brains have enough to process and deal with regarding our own little worlds, why add extra information to the mix?

If you are currently on facebook, twitter, instagram, flicker, pinterest and who the heck knows what else is out there, perhaps there is an account you can take a break from. Do you really need all of them in your life, at all times?

2- BE A BIT OLD-SCHOOL – Smart phones have changed our worlds by making us all so available. With instant access to email, not only are we expected to read and respond immediately, we often feel the need to refresh that inbox to see what we are missing.

There used to a be time where you left your job at the office. Get back to that. Take an old-school approach. Set times for yourself where you relax without your inbox.

Give yourself a break.

While I do take my phone with me while I run, I NEVER check email and have stopped looking at incoming text messages. They will still be there when I am finished.

IT IS OK TO NOT HEAR YOUR PHONE THE MINUTE SOMEONE IS TRYING TO REACH YOU. You can respond when you see it or at a more convenient time.

 

3- USE YOUR PHONE’S TECHNOLOGY TO YOUR ADVANTAGE –  These phones aren’t called smart for nothing. In fact, they are pretty smart little cookies. With chips and all. Ha, I made myself giggle.

Did you know you can customize your settings? Did you know you can set your ringer to silent? All texts to silent? OK, but did you know that even though you turn those settings to silent that you can CUSTOMIZE the phone to make noise if certain people are trying to reach you?

Amazing, yes? You can go off the grid but still be available in the event your select important list of people need to reach you.

MY ADVICE: Keep that list as small as possible. And, let them know they have made this list and not to abuse the privilege.

Look around today. I guarantee you will spot someone rather quickly who is engrossed in their phone. Then laugh to yourself when you realize that more than likely, the person you are looking at is busy scrolling through facebook reading about some guy they once knew in high school who just posted on facebook that he had a cheeseburger for lunch.

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I NEED TO KNOW:

Have you ever lost your contact list?

How do you “unplug”?

Which social media platforms do you use the most?

 

 

 

 

 

What Would Your Friends Say?

If your friends were to describe you in a few words, do you know which words they would choose?

I think my friends would choose the following words to describe me:

• funny
• trustworthy
• wonderful mother
• honest
• easy going
• loyal
• intelligent
• creative
• patient

WAIT…PATIENT?

Yes, I suppose one can say I have patience. BUT… Not when it comes to certain things. Things such as computers and technology.

As you can see, The Cookie ChRUNicles has been undergoing some fun changes and I appreciate all of the kind words and feedback.

But I can’t stand technology, my brain doesn’t speak computer lingo and I have no patience for glitches since I can barely figure out what the heck is wrong let alone fix it by myself.

So, please be patient as I am still working out a few of the kinks  (well, really, since I am an honest person, I am having someone else work out the kinks).

Now, if you asked my friends what my hobbies were, they would tell you running, baking and shopping. And while they would be correct, they would only receive partial credit.

Most people don’t realize that I am a huge sports fan, hockey in particular. I don’t devote the same amount of attention to hockey and baseball as I once did, so maybe that’s why people forget about my sports side, or, they forget because it doesn’t seem all that believable.

Earlier this week, the hockey side of me was featured in a post over at Shawn Gate’s blog on Hockeybuzz.com.  Click here for the link to the post.

Kinda cool, yes?

You know what else is cool? Cutting up your very own pineapple.

I don’t know about you, but I was always afraid to attempt cutting a pineapple. The little boy requested fresh pineapple the other day and since I really didn’t want to pay top dollar for a small container of already cut slices, I decided it was time for me to face my fears and conquer the pineapple.

It was actually super easy! All you do is cut off the top, cut off the bottom and then the sides. Slice into rings and then cut around the middles if they are hard (the middles of this pineapple really weren’t hard at all).

In a matter of minutes you have fresh pineapple slices.

And, if you are a fun mom like me, in a few more minutes you have chocolate covered pineapple.

Melt yourself some dark (or semi-sweet) chocolate in the microwave for a minute or two and coat the pineapple. If you have patience, place the chocolate covered slices in the fridge or even the freezer to make the chocolate harden quick.

No need to get fancy. Sometimes flavor and the speed at which you deliver the treat triumphs the aesthetics.

Yes, those are apple slices in the background that were also dipped in chocolate. I ate them too fast to get you a photo.

If you know me, you know that I can’t control myself too well around sliced apples that are situated near chocolate.

There are probably worse things to have no will power around, yes?

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I NEED TO KNOW:

Are you tech savvy?

Do you have any hidden hobbies or traits that you know people will forget about?

Have you ever cut up a pineapple?

What is your favorite fruit to dip in chocolate?

 

 

 

Too Plugged In…

It is a good thing the school year is just about over.

This folder may not look like it is in bad shape to you, but the fact that it is the 7th one I have bought for this school year and it is already torn in several spots, I know we are reaching the end of yet another folder’s life.

I am not interested in replacing another folder this school year.

I am focused on sunblock and which ice pops to buy, not school supplies.

It just doesn’t seem right that a child of mine has school supplies that fall apart. I took such pride in my school supplies and loved all of my pencils, folders, notebooks…my supplies surely never looked like this.

I dread going through the messy school bag to empty out his overflowing folder piled with papers everyday.

I have recently been contemplating  asking the teacher if he could GO GREEN and paperless.

Until I came across this picture. It changed my perspective.

Is this not a beautiful picture? Tell me it is. It is more than a picture only a mother could love.

OK, if you can’t tell, it is a beautiful rendition of an  ice cream sundae.

I think I taught him well, yes?

My child, who still questions if I am his real mother, sits and draws ice cream sundaes.

I am so proud. Especially since I told him recently he needs to practice his doodling skills.

It must be all of the technology. the iproducts…these kids are so plugged in that they forget what a box of crayons look like.

They don’t even know how to doodle. Don’t kids doodle anymore? You know, draw your own little pictures in the margins of your papers and notebooks?

I was the queen of the doodle.

Maybe that is why my nickname in high school became doodles. And yes, I still answer to the name.

Forget learning how to spell correctly; technology has interfered with our children’s creativity development skills.

There are thousands of apps out there that rob us our creativity by doing almost of all the thinking and creating for us.

I am no stranger to the Easy Bake Oven app. Have you tried it?

It lets you create all kinds of goodies from cupcakes, cakes, cake popes and ice cream sundaes to pizzas and Chinese take out.

I have made some pretty mean sundaes, cakes and cupcakes using this app. I don’t really play around in the app world, but I will admit this one is on my phone and I sometimes get lost in my cupcake decorating.

While on the topic of technology, I got myself a new laptop.

I love that it is pink.

I needed a new laptop that was lighter in weight and faster in operating.

 The little boy is now jealous that I have Windows 8 with a touch screen and he doesn’t.

Seriously?  All I cared about at the age of 9 were my Barbie dolls and which outfit Ken and Barbie were going to wear to the barbecue taking place on the roof top of the dream house.

While I am loving my new computer, I am still getting the hang of it. I have had some issues with the photo loading and editing which may explain why my photos don’t look too great.

Although, to be honest, my photos will never look like there is a photographer behind this blog.

In fact, I am going to share a quick and easy recipe today that includes photos that are totally not picturesque.

I am opting to share these photos really to show that I am human and that cooking and creating delicious meals doesn’t need to be picture perfect.

If you think about it, the advances in technology and these cute little apps make everything look so perfect that when you snap back into the real world, you may forget that the pretty cakes you make in the virtual world don’t always appear that way in your real kitchen.

A few days ago, the aroma of my oatmeal pumpkin chia pancakes filled the house and woke the boy from his sleep. He came into the kitchen to inform me that I should try cooking in a kitchen further from his room.

The nerve of me. I better go cook in someone else’s home since we only have one kitchen that I am aware of.

He then proceeded to request french toast for breakfast based upon the smell in the house. I told him it was pancakes but he was set on French toast.

French toast it was.

Banana French Toast using Cinnamon Raisin Ezekial Bread.

With very little time to spend cooking before school, I quickly mashed half of a banana into one egg. I had two slices of Ezekial bread in the freezer which are ready to be cooked within 10 seconds of being defrosted in the microwave.

TRUST ME. YOU WOULD NEVER KNOW YOUR EZEKIAL BREAD WAS EVER FROZEN.

If you notice from looking at the picture, I barely had time to fully mash the banana or even coat the bread completely.

Didn’t matter. Once browned and cooked on both sides, I cut it all up on his plate with the rest of the banana sliced.

Of course topped with Mighty Maple Peanut Butter and a drizzle of syrup.

Cleaned Plate= Breakfast Success.

Regardless of how appealing the cooking process or final result seemed.

*******Don’t forget the Bestowed box giveaway ends tonight! Make sure you leave on comment on the post in order to be entered for your chance to win! Click here for the link to the post.***********

I need to know:

What apps are on your phone? Do you use them all or do they just take up space?

Did you used to doodle in school? What were your go-to doodle designs? Mine were totally ice cream cones, balloons, flowers…

Running to the Beat of my Feet

Today started out nicely. I was up early, got a list of things accomplished well before the little boy was up and well before the phone starts ringing to interrupt me. I was packed for the gym and ready to go for the day before even putting him on the bus. I even prepared my lunch (a chopped salad and roasted sweet potato wedges with a little  bit of crunch time peanut butter) to bring with me for after the gym since I was heading straight to my hair appointment.

I wasn’t quite sure what my workout plan was going to be this morning  and just figured I would feel it out when I got there. Maybe the treadmill, maybe an elliptical. Maybe both.

Well..I arrive at the gym and noticed once I was in the locker room that I had no phone to plug my ear phones into. Hmm. I know I had the phone while walking into the gym. I looked everywhere, asked the front desk. No phone. Hmm.

I never lose things. I looked around some more and decided perhaps it is in my car and I didn’t ever take it out. I was in a hurry so I chose to run on the treadmill and deal with the phone issue after.

A missing phone = no Pandora or itunes.

Running on a treadmill with no Pandora, no itunes and an MIA iphone = extreme running dedication.

I ended up doing speed intervals to get 4 miles done as quick as possible.

I hate the treadmill. Even when I have fabulous music. It is simply close to torture with nothing to listen to but the noise of the gym and the sound of my feet on the belt.

The lack of music allowed me to be even more in tune with my body. Sure, that may sound great but it gave me ample time to think about how “not right” my sneakers are still feeling. I am not ready for new sneakers according to my plan.

Anyway, even after I finished and showered I couldn’t locate my phone.

I couldn’t even call to cancel my hair appt since I had no phone. I couldn’t call Verizon to let them know I was missing my phone because I had no phone.

I was lost. Completely lost.

So, I did what any normal girl would do, I went to get my hair done.

You all I know I believe in looking your best even when you are in a less than wonderful mood.

Awesome hair = Happy

Later in the day I went back to Lifetime Fitness and to make a long story short, they had my phone.

What does one learn from this experience?

Well, one learns how much the world has changed and how dependent we are on cell phones. We are all so connected that being without our smart phones, our little worlds do not function correctly. I kept hearing other people’s phones ring thinking it was mine. Other people’s texts going off thinking it was mine. I kept reaching for my phone to check email, facebook, texts, and missed calls.

Even weirder, I kept thinking I felt it vibrate in my bag.

While I was running on the boring treadmill, I decided we are all way too connected. That is part of the reason I kept my hair appointment. We all functioned years ago without all this connected technology.

I see it with my son and his friends. All too connected to these iproducts. I do not consider myself old but I will sound it when I say, “What happened to toys? What happened to playing outside? What happened to reading a real book that has paper pages and a hard cover?”

The truth is, the world could wait a few hours to reach me and I could go a few hours without seeing facebook and emails.

My hair on the other hand, was in need of attention.