Add some apples! (plus more miscellany)
As you know, one of my mainstay workday breakfasts is high-protein overnight carrot oats.
Well, I randomly decided to add some apple chunks into the mix recently, and ooh, it's so good that way! The apples provide a nice crunchy texture in what is otherwise a pretty soft bowl of oats.
11/10, would recommend, will do again.
I discovered a new lid match
I randomly discovered that my Sophico replacement lids, which are meant for Pyrex, fit on some of my regular glass bowls. Oooh! What a thrilling development.
(My life is low on thrills right now, okayyyyyy??)
How I cut my oranges
I meant to include this in the last miscellany, and I forgot! A reader had asked how I cut the oranges that I pack in my lunches; my dad does them this way, and I'm pretty sure that's where I got the idea.
Peel the orange.
Get a serrated knife like so:
And slice it up!
For packed lunches, I usually cut the slices in half again, since that makes them easier to eat with a fork.
This is a really handy method for when Hungry Harvest sends me oranges with seeds in them; it's super easy to remove the seeds when the orange is sliced this way.
I'm going to try a free CLEP test
A little while ago, my advisor let me know that I was going to be one credit short for graduating in the spring.
BOO.
I initially decided to take a one-credit class at the community college, but then I thought, "Hmm, what if I did a CLEP test instead?"
Readers have told me about how you can get a free CLEP voucher through Modern States, so I signed up, and I'm going to work through the Spanish course.
I want to get better at Spanish anyway (mainly so I can be more conversational with my Spanish-speaking patients), so this will be useful. And since I've been working on my Spanish with Duolingo for the last few years, I am not starting from scratch.
Here's hoping I can pass the CLEP test!
If worse comes to worst, I will go back to the original plan of a 1-credit community college course. So, I have very little to lose by trying this route. At bare minimum, my Spanish skills will be better at the end!
What do you love to do?
James Clear shared this quote from Adam Grant in a July newsletter:
"When you meet someone new, don't ask: What do you do? It limits what people share about themselves to a job description. Instead, try: What do you love to do? It ignites curiosity and invites people to express their distinctive interests."
I like this idea, and I am going to apply it at work because sometimes, as I chat with patients, I do end up asking them about what they do for work (or what they did before they retired). Sometimes this is informative, but I do think it would be more interesting to ask what my patients love to do!
My next shift is tomorrow, so I will look for an opportunity to try it out.
Good morning! Kristen, I have been curious about your carrot overnight oats for a while now, so I think I'm going to try it this week. I will use the high protein yogurt that I get from the store in place of the protein powder and homemade yogurt. Also, I am going to add raisins to mine. I only have quick cooking oats on hand. Do you think that will be a problem?
Miscellany: I think it's great that you are combining your Spanish studies with school! I dislike sticky fingers after peeling an orange, so when I pack one for lunch at work, I have to be sure to peel them ahead of time at home. I'll try your method next time. Some of my Sophico lids 'give' a little so my containers don't always stack as nicely as yours. Lastly, I love to garden. Unfortunately the rabbits have destroyed a new bed in my backyard this summer. Partly because our precious pup passed away this spring, and the rabbits now have free reign of the yard ;-/ I'm going to look into some border fencing for next year.
Have a great day everyone!
Kristen, and readers, what else do you put the protein powder in? I'm wondering if I should get some...
I put it in my mom's favorite oatmeal crispy cookies and my ginger cookies. I add 1/4 cup for a standard recipe and 1/2 cup to the 4 cup flour recipes. I do not use in place of flour, just add it.
I always add protein powder to smoothies or to porridge (oatmeal), if I'm making it for breakfast.
Mostly, I put it in the overnight oats. The brand I have (Promix) doesn't seem to do too well with any baked applications, and I don't love it in smoothies either. But I can tolerate it in the overnight oats.
I get the unflavored Vital Proteins and add a teaspoon to my morning coffee!
The Sophico lids I bought several years ago give more than the ones I just bought for my daughter. I’m considering replacing a few more of my Pyrex lids now and see if the stacking is improved with the newer ones.
Hmm, I think quick oats will make for a mushier end experience, so use your judgement there! And yes, I always add raisins to mine too. So good.
The high protein yogurt will be fine, yes! The protein powder is quite optional. I just add it because I need a breakfast that sticks to my ribs for many hours because sometimes my lunch break comes shockingly late in the day.
I love not being at work 😉
Clever idea to try the CLEP test. And no matter the result, continued Spanish engagement will benefit you anyway. But ohh I hope you get the credit!
Thanks for sharing about James Clear's newsletter. I get it based on your recommendation and it is fantastic.
He has such good nuggets in his newsletter!
And yes, exactly, at the bare minimum, my Spanish will be better after this.
Just signed up for the newsletter. Loved his book.
Verdad?
I regularly paraphrase the BBC website on this blog; it is a site where I come across a lot of interesting topics, for instance on nutrition and lifestyle. I mentioned "less anaesthetic if you play music the patient loves" earlier this week; now I can also mention that some time ago I found an interesting page on the nutritious powers of apples (apologies for not looking up links, but this is my lunch break and it is a short one today). Apples may not be as trendy as berries and avocados, but they have a lot to offer, are generally affordable, come in many sizes and flavours, and grow well in my part of the world, which means you do not need to transport them across the globe. I also love that they travel well to the office!
Then, as a fellow Duolingo-er, I am excited to hear the results of the CLEP test. How does this daily effort translate into formal education? You have the advantage Kristen of practising your speech with native speakers. I am still hesitant to do that, but my passive skills are very practised. I buy and borrow starter/medior level books and like to read the newspapers in Spanish. Reading a newspaper from a country not your own has the added benefit that you learn to understand that what is top of mind in your own country may not be a priority elsewhere (but then at times it may!).
Other than Duolingo I also like to do free online puzzles before and after work. These include the free NYT puzzles and some from our (Dutch) daily newspaper. Lately, Linkedin has also started to issue daily puzzles and I like that they are a mix of linguistic puzzles and more visual puzzles. It is a great way to close off the day, and in the weekend I do them with my morning coffee. I can tell how tired I am by how quickly I can resolve.
JNL, I also do my puzzles with my morning cup of coffee and use my speed and accuracy to judge my level of brain fog for the day.
I love doing Wordle and there is another free site called Word Guessr that is just kike it. However, you can play Word Guessr as Martinez as you like, not just once daily. It also lets you vary the number of letters in a word. I like to set it at random, which means it will give me words of different lengths. That5an even better challenge!
Boatload is a site that has thousands of free crossword puzzles to do. Not too hard but not too easy-- the difficulty is just right IMO.
Finally if I am on my desktop computer, there are jigsaw puzzle sites. Work those pizza online. No worries about missing puzzle pieces and you don't have to get out the card table to set it up! One site will even applaud you when you complete jigsaw.
Fat fingers+ auto correct=weird errors. Like it, not kike it. Whatever that means
And you can play it as many times as you like --how it thought I meant Martinez, I had no clue.
Have not had.
Work those puzzles online, not pizza. I think spell check hates me.
LOL, I thought you might have dictated it.
I had to take my husband into a large nearby city for a medical procedure. Driving on the way home, I dictated a message for Siri to send to our kids "Daddy is fine". Instead, it came out "Daddy is high". Well, technically he was because they had drugged him up, but we still laugh about the message, many years later.
Spell check has been too big for its britches lately!
I love to play online jigsaw while listening to audio books. The two tasks use different parts of the brain so my mind does not wander away from the book.
I like doing Connections, Wordle and occasionally the Guardian quick crossword. I think it's improved my vocabulary because my parents remarked that I've got a lot better at Scrabble!
I have never been able to get my head around Sudoku - I think the numbers put me off. I should probably try that again, or some other maths game.
I bet you'd like Sudoku - when you look at it, the numbers are really just a symbol. We have a tabletop Sudoku (solitaire) game that's a wooden board with colored marbles instead of numbers. I would lend it to you if I was in Denmark!
Aw, thanks! I'll have to give Sudoku another chance.
I beat my husband to Scrabble just once in our three decade marriage. I kept the list with the score, to mark the occasion.
My best Scrabble victory was getting 82 points on a word; I don't remember what it was now but it began with a z and was on a triple word score!
Ice breaker question topic... Sometimes I ask a person what some of their strengths are. Then I may do a follow up question of how they get to use their strengths in their current or past jobs. Or how they wish they could use their strengths in the workplace.
Good luck on the CLEP class prep!
I get unreasonably excited when I find unrelated lids that match my glass bowls! The one I use all the time: lids from large tubs of yogurt fit my Pyrex custard cup bowls. Also lids from silos of oatmeal and giant tubs of peanuts fit some of my Corelle bowls, which makes for easy leftover storage (those are not always a perfect fit, but good enough that I can stack them short-term).
I'm so glad you're trying for a CLEP & I hope it's a quick success. One credit! They ought to let you do something like submit a weight-lifting plan and document your progress for a self-monitored PE credit.
Haha, we both are easily thrilled!
I think that's a lovely question to ask people. I can't imagine who wouldn't want to be asked that, and have a caring person listen to their answer.
Yes! I also think it would provide some valuable insight for me as I take care of a patient.
I will report back. 🙂
I really like that question! I don't always enjoy it when people ask me what I do for work. I'm a medical specialist finishing up a fellowship in a sub-specialty. I don't specify which one on the internet because there are so few of us, but it's kind of like if I worked in pediatric oncology. I love my job and I actually don't think it's depressing, but it kind of ends the conversation because other people do and then don't know what to say. So I usually have to pivot to a fun subject anyway.
Oh I actually have a question. I'm in the market for a piano bench--any thoughts on attributes or brands? I'm going to start taking lessons, and my kindergartener will probably start next year. Fun fact, I emailed Kristen YEARS ago for recommendations for self-teaching resources and now that I've gotten what I can from Albert, it's time for a teacher!
Ooh, I do not know! My piano bench came with my piano, so I have never shopped for one.
There are expensive adjustable-height benches but honestly, as a kid I learned on a very basic wooden bench and it was fine. Ha.
I never actually learned to play piano but my sister did, and her piano bench had a lid for music sheets which was quite handy!
Ooh good idea. We have little storage so that sounds good.
So thrilled dor you both! Enjoy the lessons 🙂
If your child will use the Suzuki method, I know they want the child's feet to touch the "floor". Of course this is possible for young children, so a bench for resting the feet is recommended. My sister had my dad make a box with slots on the sides and an open top. Then there was a sturdy shelf that slid into the slots on the sides and the kids could adjust it to whatever height they needed. Just a suggestion if your child will be starting soon.
Oops, "not possible".
When I worked in E.R. I asked what their favorite super power is, when working in ICU I asked what their favorite comfort foods or comforting food combinations. This helped when encouraging the restart of foods.
Non hospital question is would you rather have a reverse button or pause?
The smallest round silicone type lid fits perfectly on my water/working glasses. Perfect for berries or grapes.
I wouldn't necessarily advise asking this, but if I'm in a conversation about bad interviews (with friends, not as part of an actual interview!), my worst one was probably one years ago where I was asked what I would do if I were a penny and stuck in a blender. I was actually able to answer the question but what I wanted to ask was how the hell that related to the filing job I was interviewing for. I know that the 'logic' is to see who can think of their feet but I still think it's stupid. Like, ask something random actually related to the job!
The interview was already off to a bad start because the employment agency gave me the wrong address! Also in general, I just hate interviews lol!
*on their feet!
Was the answer: clang around as loudly as I could to encourage the person who was dumb enough to put me in here to address their error by removing me & putting me to better use ?
Ha, I said I would throw myself against the side until I fell out. They said it was a good answer and I could also have climbed up the blades (I just remembered it was to imagine being the size of a penny, not that it's any less ludicrous). I didn't get the job - they said I was second choice, which is what I suspect they said to everybody who didn't get it.
I also got a random maths question in that interview and my mind totally blanked; it was not my strong point in school and what with that and the stress of it all I had to be very heavily hinted towards the answer!
That sounds like the company was the blender.
Indeed. I think the worst training day icebreaker activity was one where we had to 'speed date' with our jobs. Actual speed dating would probably be less awkward.
Is there a post about the story the abandoned house?
Yes! There is a link to it right under the picture of the serrated knife: where the abandoned house is underlined, if you click on that, it will take you to it. Enjoy!
Que bueno que quieras aprender español. Fijate en el estilo de español mas comun.
Hmm, help me out here.I understood your first sentence but I'm stuck on the second one!
Lol, see what kind of Spanish is spoken most in your area. Mexican, Puerto Rican, Cuban, etc. Asi te aprendes mas rapido.
Oh, oh, I see! I'm pretty sure Mexican Spanish is the most common here, but I should ask our hospital interpreter to be sure.
I'm working on tidying, cleaning and decluttering before the great flooring laying starts (6 weeks to 2 months away). I have also lined up some friends to help with moving the heavy stuff (yes I am paying them lol but they are way cheaper than the company who is going to be doing the flooring). One of the reasons for starting early with the stuff that I can do (mostly the light stuff) is that I don't want to be running around like a crazed rabbit on speed ROFLMBO at the last minute. I want Matt and his guys to be able to lay the flooring PDQ!!
So far today: one big bag of garbage out to the back porch and I timed that just right (today is garbage day and they picked up that bag about 2 seconds--literally--after I took it outside,
2) I had been storing a lot of my clean clothes on the guest bed in a big heap. Today I starting hanging everything up in the master bedroom closet. That will also make it easier and faster when getting ready for work.
3) have a ton of dirty clothes to wash so going to do at least one load before I go to sleep.
4) need to call my doctor today about removing the 8 hour day restriction. The pain is about 99% gone, the incision is completely healed (there will always be a scar which ticks me off no end), and I can make a fist without pain now. I've enjoyed the 8 hour days but all good thing must come to an end.
5) deciding if there are things that can be stored (at least temporarily) in the areas that have already had flooring laid down (namely kitchen, office, and laundry room.
When I put in wood floors 10 years ago, I hired a Uhaul moving team to move the largest furniture and then move back in, they had tools, large moving dollies and no injuries.
When I saw my cousin after many years apart and she asked me what I do I said, "Whatever I want to do." She loved it. But, I like your new question much better.
I LOVE THAT! If you ask me what i LOVE to do it is sooo different than what I “did”.. in the USA that means “work” of course. I LOVE to make paper crafts,watercolor and hike! I cna talk hours abotu all those things.I love to read.I love to cook. I love a good thrifts store day! I LOVE finding good purses for cheap in thrift stores..I have a “thing” about “needing a good purse, hate cheap ones.I found a fab.leather purse for winter at our Hospice thrift store on Monday when it was 50% off for seniors day!! PAID 5 dollars for a purse that will last me!! Almost new !
I was also wondering how you cut up oranges.. good tip! Will use!
Thank you for the orange cutting tutorial😁
I’m struggling this week with my youngest. He started Cross Country and seems to like it, however he has major anxiety about riding in the van with his teammates. He’s only 13, so not driving quite yet. I’ve had to drive him to practice, stay and take him home the last two nights. Kind of at a loss as to what to do about this. I don’t want to baby him, yet I want to be supportive. He has dyslexia and auditory processing disorder, so he thinks people don’t like him/hate him most of the time. Anyone else ever deal with kids anxiety of this type before?
Jackie, I'm sorry I have no wisdom to share but wanted to say you're a good mama! Your son is lucky to have you at his side.
Thank you!
I had some similar issues to your son growing up. I don't know if this is a helpful longterm solution, but could he bring music to listen to in the van? That way he would be less expected to make conversation/worry about being teased. As for longterm, I'm less sure, but I think it helps him tremendously to have support in you and, if people tease him, it says more about them than him. I'm positive he will find his people as he gets older.
Thank you for the suggestion and kind words. My husband did bring that up last night and we will probably try that. My oldest sons friend is also in this Cross Country group and sent him a message that everyone likes my youngest, they just want him to get in the van at the end of the night so they can go. They are tired by the time practice is over. He told my oldest he would watch out for him. It was very sweet of him to send the message, so I hope that helps.
I told my youngest we will work through this in steps and it will work out.
Jackie my son has both of these and ADHD! He (10) is a little younger than your kiddo but struggles with group sports so I highly recommend cross country or any long distance events in track. For his anxiety, perhaps some noise cancelling headphones? He could tell his team mates he's getting ready for the race but could just zone out. Even if he doesn't have a phone, there are some you just turn on and it reduces the noise significantly. There's also these hand held devices that send vibrations that help to calm people down - I was skeptical but my best friend recommended it after it was helpful for her daughter and it really has helped our son! I bought mine off eBay (Glowco Calm Carry Electronic Handheld Device for ADHD and Anxiety Relief) I know it's hard as a parent to witness these struggles; hang in there! You're doing a great job ❤️
Thank you! I’m going to check that out.
Do the apples turn brown if added to the overnight oats 1-2 days ahead of time?
I love your idea to earn a credit AND learn more Spanish by taking the Spanish CLEP test. Not to be a Debbie Downer... but I did want to add a small disclaimer: my 11th grade son (who has passed 5 CLEP tests and just finished 3 years of high school Spanish) found the practice for the Spanish test (especially the 'listen then answer a question' part) to be above his knowledge level and he decided not to take the CLEP test. If you find that to be the case and just need a quick college credit, I would recommend the Analyzing and Interpreting Literature test. It's set up just like the SAT where they give you a passage to read and then ask you questions about the passage, so not much study prep is needed. Good luck with all your CLEP prep 🙂
Oh man, really? Dang. Maybe this is harder than I thought.
Years ago a friend told me that he always asks new people what they do for fun. Such a great idea that I’ve adopted over the years!!