219/365

I am by no means a cook. I don't do it enough to call myself that, but I do enjoy it. My grandmother used to cook all the time. My mom doesn't. So I guess it skipped a generation and now it's my turn. And I can cook if there are clear instructions and I have all the ingredients and it won't take me forever. I'm still working on patience. So my mom and I were looking through some cookbooks yesterday and decided that we could make chicken and rice for dinner. Chicken and rice is no big deal. If Lucy Ricardo could make it on I Love Lucy, then I can too.

The recipe called for:

• 4 chicken breasts
• 2 cups instant brown rice
• 3/4 cup of water
• Onion soup mix
• Cream of Chicken
• Cream of Mushroom

You combine all of these things into a 13"x9" pan and then lay the chicken on top and then pour half the pack of the onion powder on top. Pop it in a 350 degree oven for 40 minutes and you're done. It's a super salty dish -- I'm not a fan of salt -- but it was still really good. The chicken was probably the best part of the meal since the rice mixture had a saltier taste. Overall for the first time I made chicken and rice, it was pretty alright.

catch you later,
Karleigh

"Bam!" // Emeril Lagasse

218/365

My mom was always really open with me about real life things, which is why I got to watch movies with tougher subject lines when I was younger. These kinds of movies impact you. They open your mind to different types of lives, consequences of difficult choices and a ton of actors that are way more talented than the ones you find on Disney channel. A lot of people don't think that kids should be talked to about real life things, so we play cookie cutter families and push things under the rug. We watch what we say and make sure that they don't know too much about grown up things.

A long time ago this probably made a lot of sense. Children were raised differently and no one really found out about "grown up things" unless they had older siblings. There will always be one kid with an older sibling that knows everything and is not at all afraid to share everything to their siblings and then to the entire school. That's why we have to face up to the fact that we live in a different time. Kids know things a lot earlier now. It doesn't make any sense to hide everything from them. Obviously there is a time and a place for that sort of sharing, but it is definitely not something to hide.

Talk to kids like adults. Help them work through their problems logically. If someone pushes them on the playground don't brush it off with an "that's why kids do when they like you." Help them figure it out and then help them to confront the person and sort the situation out. Teach your daughters to stick up for themselves and the things that they like. Teach your sons that girls are equal to them and that they can be emotional about stuff. Raise your kids to be healthy adults with sensible decision making skills. Teach them to think for themselves and about others. 

catch you later,

Karleigh

“For in every adult there dwells the child that was, and in every child there lies the adult that will be.” // John Connolly, The Book of Lost Things

217/365

All in the Family is absolutely one of my most favorite television shows. It doesn't run on television anymore, but it did when I was a little girl. I must have watched it a few times back when TVLand played the good shows, like Happy Days and The Andy Griffith Show. Both of those shows have Ron Howard in them which is funny. I love Ron Howard too.

That's beside the point though. Anyway, All in the Family is described as the show where "a working class bigot constantly squabbles with his family over the important issues of the day." It's hilarious. I mean you can be on either side of the political spectrum and find the show hilarious, even if Archie verbally abuses everyone and everything. My mom has told me that she and my grandparents would watch it on TV every night when she was a teenager. It's funny too because Archie and Edith remind me a lot of my own grandparents -- in looks, not actions. From Archie baptizing his grandson without Mike and Gloria's approval to Edith finally getting to wear a pantsuit, I just find this show to be so much like coming home. I have no idea why, but All in the Family is like being in my house with my family. I guess that's why I used to always watch it when I got homesick.

catch you later,

Karleigh

"Silence is golden, so stifle thy self." // Archie Bunker

216/365

For a long time, like seven years, I wasn't able to look at my mother's baby pictures. They weren't at our house so I had to beg to look at them. And finally I am able. I cried over them when I first got them back, and I still hold a little aggravation at the fact that I wasn't able to look at them. It's my mother. You should always be allowed to have pictures of your mother.

So since I finally have them I thought that we could do a toss back Tuesday with some baby pictures of my mother. In the photo, my mother is posing with her grandparents. I think my great grandaddy must have always worn his hat like that because it's tilted in almost every photo. You can see his old car in the photo and I guess my mom was between around like two and five. I'm not too good at guessing ages of children, but she was pretty small still. 

I really love old pictures and I love my mother more than anything in the world so to finally be able to look at her pictures means the world to me. 

catch you later,

Karleigh

"And flowers shall rise from your wounds, and it’s going to be exquisitely miraculous. As for their scent, it’s going to be achingly beautiful." // Bshayer F.R.

215/365

Dirty Dancing is one of my favorite movies. I remember the first time I saw it on tv and I remember going to search for it at a Blockbuster the next day so I could watch it again. There's something about 80s movies that make them so much fun to watch. It's like Flashdance or Can't Buy Me Love. Patrick Dempsey was so cute in that one, but really only when he was nerdy. 

80s movies made everything so dramatic, so exciting. You can't help but get caught up in the lives of these high school characters. Getting your license was a huge deal (License to Drive) and dating the popular guy when you were a nobody was super crazy (Pretty in Pink). I don't know why they are so good, but 80s movies make life seem so fun. 

catch you later,

Karleigh

"Nobody puts Baby in a corner." // Johnny Castle

214/365

catch you later,

Karleigh

"I dedicate this award for my fellow Mexicans who live in Mexico. I pray we can find and build a government we deserve and I hope Mexican immigrants in this country [the United States] can be treated with the same dignity as the ones who came before and built this immigrant nation." // Alejandro González Iñárritu

213/365

I can't believe it's already August. It feels like just yesterday I was playing in the snow in January. How crazy. Of course with August comes the dreaded question: "When do you go back to school?" It's almost like people with jobs are laughing at you each time they bring it up. To be honest, they'd probably give anything to go back to school. We have it easy right now. Well, maybe not during finals but we do for most of the semester. And since school is creeping up on us once again, I think it's important for us to chat about some good habits to develop within the first month back.

• Do not put off your papers/assigned readings/projects. I know that you think because it is the beginning of the year that you will have plenty of time to do all of your assignments. And you will, if you do them in a timely manner. If it took the Lord more than one day to make the earth, it is going to take you more than one day to write a paper... well to write a good paper. What I'm saying is that you should allow yourself enough time to do your best. Don't put off what you have to do. 
• Buy school supplies that motivate you. I told you all about my love for planners and stationary. It puts me in a learning mood, so I like to have it organized and ready for use. When you have cute notebooks or new pencils, it can make taking notes more fun. I think so at least. At the very least, try and have something that you like with you in your notebook. Put stickers on it, have your friends write notes or even draw on some index cards and slip them in the plastic of your binder. Making your school supplies fun to look at will make studying more fun.
• And lastly, be patient with yourself. It's easy to fall into a funk in the beginning of the school year. It's not always fun to leave behind our swimsuits in exchange for textbooks but it is something we have to do. It's okay to not do well in the beginning -- in fact, I find that my first test grades are usually my worst -- but remember that you have time to improve and that one bad grade is not the end of the world. You are always going to be more than the grades that you made in school -- but that doesn't mean that you shouldn't do your best.

 I hope you guys are pumped about going back to school. However, if you are having trouble with the change, I hope these tips help to get you back in the school mood.

catch you later,
Karleigh

"Instruction does much, but encouragement everything." // Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Letter to A.F. Oeser, Nov. 9, 1768