reviews

A Perfectly Simple way to maintain my tenuous grip on adulthood

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In the past I’ve tried to limit us to one or two activities every week, but we’ve added some things this year. I’m beginning to suspect that I’ve over-scheduled myself for the fall. We currently have:

  • Poppy’s regular ballet class and an additional “Nutcracker” rehearsal class on Wednesday.
  • Piano lessons on Thursday.
  • Two soccer games on Saturday.
  • And coming soon: More “Nutcracker” rehearsals every other Sunday.

Now, I know that a lot of parents do all that and more on top of ferrying the kids to and from school and holding down a full-time job. I’m 99 percent certain that the kids wouldn’t have any outside activities if that were the case for me. I’m an introvert and a homebody, and all this running around gives me The Stress, which I inevitably compound by neglecting to eat breakfast before we leave the house. And then I have to either tough it out until I get home or buy something on the go, and it is a scientifically proven fact that I make very poor nutritional choices when I’m hungry like a wolf and outside of my natural habitat.

You would think that as a fully grown and responsible adult, I could figure out a work-around for this. Such as: Eat breakfast or Pack a snack. You would be wrong, though, because I continued to leave the house, get hungry and descend upon the nearest Ho-Ho for months — OK fine: Years, if you count all of that time before now, when I’ve done the very same thing since forever — until finally Zone Perfect stepped in.

They sent me some of their new Perfectly Simple bars to try. Each flavor is gluten-free and contains fewer than 10 ingredients, which makes it a relatively “safe” thing to keep in my purse for snacking emergencies.

The bars come in three flavors: Peanut Crunch, Cranberry Almond and Toasted Coconut. I’m the vice treasurer elect of the Coconut Fan Club, so I thought I was going to love the Toasted Coconut bar. I found it cloyingly sweet, though; I pawned half of it off on Rockford while we waited in line to see Tigger and Pooh at Disney World. He said it was “not bad.” The Cranberry Almond bar didn’t make my tastebuds sing, but it wasn’t offensive either. It was serviceable in the food-as-fuel category, which is sometimes necessary. Like when I’m at the ballet studio and my stomach growls so loudly it distracts the dancers.

And then there’s the Peanut Crunch bar. A.K.A. my new BFF. The Peanut Crunch bar tastes like peanut butter. Really good, dense peanut butter. If you’re the type of person who occasionally indulges in a spoonful from the jar, you’ll like this bar. And I am that type of person.

So while my schedule is going to stay a little bit chaotic for at least the next few months, I no longer have to deal with the repercussions of my own dopey decisions on the breakfast front as long as I remember to keep the Perfectly Simple pocket in my purse stocked with Peanut Crunch bars.

Nichole received a few complimentary Zone Perfect Perfectly Simple bars for review purposed. All opinions expressed are solely her own.

menu plan Monday

I was watching the Emmys when I wrote this. Forgive me if it goes astray.

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This was the first weekend in awhile that we haven’t been out of town for one reason or another. It was so nice just to spend some time at home! Last night we welcomed Fall with an apple pork roast. It was the first Pioneer Woman recipe I’ve made, and oh my I guess now I can see what all the fuss is about. The pork was tender and flavorful, and even Poppy enjoyed it!

For our menu plan this week I tried to shop the pantry as much as possible, even if it didn’t make for a terribly exciting week in dinner.

Except for Velveeta night, of course. Velveeta night is party night.

Monday Sweet & Sour Meatballs

This is a great ’50s throwback recipe. I always feel like I should wear a flirty apron and meet Rockford at the door with his house slippers and a cocktail when we have sweet & sour meatballs.

Tuesday: Velveeta Helper

This week we’re trying the cheeseburger version, and it would be the last box of Velveeta Helper in the house if I hadn’t found more at the cheap grocery on Saturday. And so there will be more Velveeta in my future. Oh yes there will.

Wednesday: Baked chicken strips and mac ‘n’ cheese

This was also the kids’ choice meal last week, and we ended up doing something else instead. Luckily the kids were happy to choose it again this week.

Thursday: Sweet potato risotto

I love risotto. It isn’t terribly tough to make, either, but I tend to forget about it when it’s menu-making time. I found a bag of arborio rice when I cleaned the pantry out on Saturday, so risotto it is!

Friday: Pizza

The good people at Big Green Egg still haven’t surprised me with a brand new grill, so we’ll probably be dining with Papa John again on Friday.
Homeschool

The one where I think about getting an iPad

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This is exactly what it would’ve looked like if we’d done the “Story of the World” Celtic war axe craft.

The kids spent Monday at my in-laws’ house this week while Rockford and I were on our way home from pretending to be young and hip for a few days. So we only had four days of school this week. We still managed to do almost everything I’d planned, though. Maybe we should just move to a four-day, year-round school week.

I’ve been entertaining the idea of saving up for an iPad for school (and, who am I kidding?, for Facebook, Twitter and Kingdom Rush), so Rockford left his work iPad home yesterday so we could explore some educational apps. I downloaded trial versions of the Bob Books app and Rocket Math as well as the full version of Stack the States. The kids liked them all, but I haven’t had a chance to give them an in-depth look yet.

The main factor that’s kept me from actively wanting an iPad is that I think the kids would spend their days asking to use it all the time. And that is precisely what happened yesterday. It might just be the novelty of the thing, but they do the same thing with my computer and the phone so I suspect it would be an ongoing issue.

Reading

Pete seems to have had a little breakthrough on the reading front this week. He wanted to move on to the next book in his Bob Books set, so I told him we would if he could read all the way through book 6 with no help. Which he did, and then he read all the way through the new-to-him book 7 with no help, too! I’m going to see if he’ll try “Green Eggs and Ham” next week.

Poppy read 3 or 4 “Magic Tree House” books this week, and she also read an American Girl book. I thought she’d enjoy them, but sometimes she just doesn’t want to consider things I suggest. Imagine that. Rockford brought “Meet Addy” home from the library for her, though, and she read it in one sitting. Hmph.

History

We’re still doing some review stuff in volume two of “Story of the World” this week. This week’s crafty project was to make a Celtic war axe using a wrapping paper tube and some other cardboard & sundries, but I didn’t have a wrapping paper tube that wasn’t, you know, covered in wrapping paper. So it seems I’ve already gone back to my old, no-craft-doing ways in history. Maybe next week won’t require a wrapping paper tube.

Math

In addition (ha!) to their usual McRuffy lessons, we downloaded Rocket Math for the iPad. I’d like to find an app that allows an administrator to set up the user account, so a second-grader couldn’t play solely on the easiest setting just to rack up points for a sweeter rocket. Hypothetically, I mean.

Pop Quiz

Do your kids use an iPad in their schooling? (Home or otherwise?) How do you deal with the Gimme Gimme Gimme aspect of it? And do you have any must-have education apps?