The Extraordinary Life and Times of Strawberry + more
Miscellany day!
The Extraordinary Life and Times of Strawberry
This short video about the life travels of a strawberry is a good reminder to use the food we buy.
Email subscribers, click here to visit the post and watch the video.
(Hat tip to reader Julie for sharing!)
Gratitude Physically Changes Your Brain
Anne from Modern Mrs. Darcy shared this article on Facebook, and I read it with interest, given my passion for the subject of contentment.
New research appears to show that when we practice gratefulness, our brains actually change and become more prone to future gratefulness.
If this is true, it's like the opposite of a vicious cycle. Gratefulness begets more gratefulness, which, I would assume, begets even more gratefulness.
It's a small study, but I wouldn't be surprised if the findings hold up, based on my own observation of how gratitude works in my life and in my children's lives.
(related: my post about looking for the good.)
Lisey is doing a teeny bit better.
She's past the dreaded 6-8 day stage where scar tissue forms, and the pain gets worse. She's been able to eat a little more than before, and I'm hopeful that she'll be able to start the process of getting off of the pain meds soon.
Tonsillectomy recovery is just so slow. Oof.
But at least we are past the worst of it and I have high hopes for what the next 7 days may bring for her healing.
I got Joshua signed up for driver's ed.
A friend called to let me know about a special session that runs before public schools end, so I signed him up. A nice bonus is that it's $50 cheaper than the usual rate, so, yay!
And it's close by, which is awesome (given that he has to go for two weeks straight.) That'll save me a lot of time and gas.
Wouldn't it be so convenient if people could drive themselves to driving school?? 😉
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That's all, folks!
Thanks for sharing this! I think sometimes life gets so hectic that we need this reminder from time to time.....
The dreadful driver's ed! I remember when I was a kid it was just $100 or so. When my 21 year old went several years ago it was $500 in the seattle area. Any savings truly matter 🙂
Praying for quick healing for your daughter!
I went to driver's ed in the Seattle area in 1984. The cost was $50. How times have changed!
Wow, my drivers training which I paid for myself at 16, because I didn't want my parents to pay for it in 1978 cost 250.00 in San Francisco. I got a job at a department store to pay for it, I was so proud of that!
Some of the driving schools in my area pick up the driver-in-training for their on-the-road days! You just have to drive them to their classroom sessions.
I think this class might pick them up for driving too...it's just that I have to take him to two weeks straight of classes. I'm super glad we found a good nearby driving school.
Joshua can't drive to driving school, but he'll be saving a lot of trips for you! And thanks for reminding me that I have a box of strawberries languishing in my fridge! Out of sight, out of mind!
I drove myself to driver's ed! I had already gotten my license, but I took the class so that we could get a discount on my insurance. There was no way I could have taken the class before I had my license since we lived out of town and both my parents worked full time.
Oh, that's interesting! Here, you can't get your license until you have taken driver's ed, so no one ever gets to drive themselves to driver's ed (at least, not without a parent in the car!)
It would be great to have a student drive to driving school! I have taught three and now three more to go! Drivers Education was not mandatory in Tennessee so only one of our girls got into the class in high school via lottery system. Most high schools do not offer it any more due to the high liability costs. Georgia requires driving school so here we go again----- only seven years before the oldest gets to go. : )
My driver's ed was taught in my home town high school, free of charge, as a regular class all the sophomores took. I was shocked to find that my daughters had to pay for driver's ed and it was offered in a community center instead of school
I really like the Life and Times of Strawberry. I have really been paying more attention to food waste. I get so mad at myself when I forget something and it's wasted. At the very, very least, I'm wasting the money I paid for it -- not to mention all the resources it took to grow it.
Good job on Lisey's getting through the worse of the tonsillectomy recovery!
I took drivers ed in high school too for free, but they have now stopped doing that.
I thought something might be up, when I saw the strawberries were being some other things in the fridge.
Speaking of food waste, NPR had an article yesterday afternoon about food, from which I learned two interesting things:
1. Slicing apples increases consumption. Kids in schools tend to throw out whole apples but eat sliced ones (I tuned in partway through so didn't hear the stats), presliced apples have benefits (more fruit eaten, including by kids) and detriments (more plastic waste); and McDonalds kicked off the packed presliced apple market by including them in Happy Meals.
2. Baby cut carrots aren't merely large carrots ground down to small cylindrical pieces. They're made of carrots that are too ugly to sell. Not only did they save the carrot industry but they also promote carrot variety and reduce food waste!
I love to send all four of my kids to school with apples in their lunches, but - has anyone figured out a reliable way to slice the apples and still have them fresh at lunchtime? I did the lemon juice trick but they thought they tasted "different" lol.
Have you ever looked for fruit fresh? It's a powdered mixture that you sprinkle on fruit to prevent it from browning. I think it has ascorbic acid in it, and I'm quite sure it's tasteless.
I forgot about fruit fresh - my Mother always had that around. I'll try it - thanks!
I use powdered vitamin C (ascorbic acid). If you mix a small amount, maybe 1/8 t., in a bowl and slice your apple into it, then drain on a towel, it'll stay white for the rest of the day.
With a sharp knife cut the apple top to bottom just right of the middle and just left of the middle so that you have cut the checks off each side like you would a mango. Cut each check in three or four slices again top to bottom keeping them together. Slice off the othe two slices you left on the core, top to bottom.
Then reassemble all the pieces around the core exactly as they were before cutting and secure it around the middle (like round the equator) with a rubber band (recycle those ones from the asparagus bunch).
Because no surface is exposed to the air it doesn't brown even with no treatment with lemon juice or fruit fresh or who knows what it is they use in those packaged ones!!!