Alternate to Running and CHOCOLATE!

I bailed on my running partner yesterday morning because as I was packing my clothes for the run (the night before) I looked up the weather on my phone.  100% chance of rain and 41 degrees at 5am.  Yikes.  Um, no.  So I texted that I was going to bail and would do a workout video instead.  Sweet sleep, dry indoors and heat.  Ahhh.

But then I had to complete the other half of my bailing promise-- a workout video.  So after putting the cub down for his nap, I spent 30 minutes with Jillian.  That girl knows how to kick a butt in ways you don't realize until you wake up the next day, and think, "ow.  Why do I hurt in unusual places?  Oh yeah, that half hour with Jillian." 

I really should do those more often.

I have to share this recipe, kids.  It is so easy, so good and totally is close enough to my addiction to Bear Naked Chocolate granola, without costing $5 a bag!  Found originally here.  I tweaked the oats slightly because I like mine a bit more coated than the 7 cups she calls for in her recipe.

 Source

Homemade Chocolate Granola

• 1/3 cup brown sugar
• 1/3 cup oil
• ½ cup honey
• ½ cup cocoa
• 5-6 cups of old fashioned oats
• 1 cup chocolate chips

1. In a small sauce pan combine brown sugar, oil, and honey. Bring to a boil. Remove from heat and whisk in cocoa.
2. Place oats in a large bowl and stir in sugar/cocoa mixture.
3. Spread into 2 9×13 pans.
4. Bake at 350 degrees for 10 minutes.
5. Remove from oven and stir in chocolate chips.
6. Turn off oven and return granola to oven. (Yes you turn the oven off and place granola back in it. This helps the granola to finish cooking without over cooking it.)
7. Leave in oven for 1-2 hours.
8. Remove from oven and let cool.
9. Store in sealed containers or jars.    

Make it and you'll be saying yum too!  It's as close to Bear Naked Chocolate Granola as we'll come in my kitchen-- and I tried lots of other recipes!

You said, what?!

I'm starting to wonder who else is teaching our kid to talk?  Seriously he says full on paragraphs but they happen to be in a language only he knows... some days it's close to Italian, other's Mandarin... today, I was wondering if Arnold Schwarzenegger snuck for a little while...   WOw.

Just when I'm impressed with all the new words he's learning he throws in certain reoccurring "Italian" words like "tet tet ta nini" that I can't quite place as much of anything, but considering it's daily use in his vocabulary I am starting to wonder?!

He did get his first Christmas present and has played with his "mon more" (lawn mower-- said like you have marbles in your mouth, though-- kinds like "mon more") non-stop ever since.  Look at that expression of pure focus in the picture.  He's our little mission-man.

So do all English-speaking kids start out speaking another language first? 

Does our son know his name?

Cubsy, Cubs, Cubby, Little man, Sweet Boy, Baby Boy...  the list has evolved with age but continues to grow!  I really do try to say his real name-- and he does answer to it-- but he also answers to all the names on the this list.  Oops.  Do you think he knows he has only one real first name?

On this day we added "Dirt Eater" to the list...  I wish I could say it was the first offense.  Alas.

Do you all have nick names for your kids too?  Do you end up using their given names or nick names more?

Men vs Women: The Sick Day

So my husband has been sick since Monday.  It's Thursday and guess who is still home, yep... hubs.
I have no doubt he is sick-- not the kind I ever stayed home for but wow-- do men ever do "sick days" differently than women:

Men vs Women: The Sick Day

First thing in the morning...

Men-- Lay in bed, cough, complain your throat hurts. The world as we know it must be ending.

Women--  Realize you might puke, oops, puke. Pull self up by the bootstraps, make breakfast for everyone anyway.  Decide only because you're puking that your really sick.

After breakfast:

Men-- Thank your wife for the breakfast in bed, you could have gotten up but you just feel too horrible to move.  Instead you pull out a lap top and proceed to watch Netflix and Hulu.  Cough.  Sniffle. 

Women-- Decide that only because you are puking you won't go in today.  Pull out your laptop and get to work from home.  You'll run to the bathroom between calls.  Or if you are an at home Mama-- you tell yourself you can do this-- make it to the bathroom before puking on the head of kids.  Have a fleeting thought about how nice "sick days" used. 


Mid-morning:

Men-- Ahhhh... so tired from laying in bed.  Decide to take a nap before lunch-- maybe even move to the couch for the nap.  Cough. Scratch. Cough.

WOmen-- Ugh, I feel icky.  Wish I could take a nap.  Instead, I'll eat a cracker and make some hot tea to sip as I continue working.  Must. keep. going.


Lunch:

Men-- Wow, that nap make me even more tired.  I guess I'll get up to pee, grab some snacks and then come back and watch a movie.  Cough. Sniff.

Women-- It's only lunch?  I feel like this day is dragging on forever.  Guess I'll try to eat something while doing 10 other things at the same time.  Oops... that didn't sit well... puke.   Ugh, I feel like a dog.


Afternoon:

Men-- Zzzzzzzzzzzzz

Women-- Breaks out the cleaner to sanitize and clean the bathroom so no one else gets sick.


Evening:

Men-- Keep the kids away, I feel awful!  I'm pretty sure I am going to have to stay home tomorrow too.  After dinner I think I'll hit the hay early.  TV. Movie. Sleep.  Cough.

Women-- You're home! Yes dear, I've got dinner cooking even though I have zero appetite and might hurl.  Hurl.  Clean the bathroom again.  Take a hot bath while your husband and kids pop in and out of the bathroom.  Ugh.



Ok-- maybe that's just the difference in my family. ; )

Seriously when I was uber sick a few months ago with the pukies-- my husband just told me to wear a mask all day so the baby didn't get sick too.  When he's sick this week, it looks more like this around here...

Photo Source

Good thing women do the child-bearing or we'd really all hear how miserable it is!  I may have told my husband that yesterday too-- to which he said-- if I exert energy I might get more sick-- I'm trying to avoid getting it really bad.  Can't fault that logic!  Cough. Smile. Cough.

Happy Thursday everyone!