Blog - Page 78 of 91 - Dagmar Bleasdale

Marriage Woes and Wheelbarrow Love

July 22, 2012 by Dagmar Bleasdale 18 Comments

Don has also been working on Saturdays lately, so Sundays are extra special to me. After we all had to get up early yesterday, long story, we slept in today and Don suggesting to go to Cold Spring.

You don’t have to mention that twice to me! As you know, I love that little town right on the Hudson River because it’s home to many antique stores — and Hudson Hil’s restaurant where we always eat breakfast.

Well, brunch today.

After a fight in the car (okay, so marriage isn’t easy, noticed that?), Don and I pulled it together and had a nice discussion about our secret project (psst!). I love brainstorming with him about it, just can’t share it with you here (yet).

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Tuna Salad Wrap with Avocado Mayonnaise

July 18, 2012 by Dagmar Bleasdale 6 Comments

This tuna salad sandwich or wrap is so easy to make, and my new favorite lunch because it’s healthy, can be made in minutes, and I don’t have to cook!

The other day I felt like making myself a tuna sandwich, but I’m not a fan of a lot of mayonnaise. So I opened the fridge and looked for something else I could put on the sandwich.

On my last trip to Trader Joe’s I had picked up their Guacamole Hummus for the first time. It’s made from avocado and chickpeas, which I love, so why not try to mix that with just one serving of mayonnaise and the tuna?

Voila, another healthy, no-cook, vegetarian dish was born. And my son loved it as well. Victory!

Tuna Salad Wrap with Avocado Mayonnaise on Whole Wheat Tortilla

All you need is these 4 ingredients:

whole wheat flour tortillas (or any bread you like)
guacamole hummus with avocado and chickpeas (or just fresh avocado)
solid white tuna in water (I bought the one with less salt)
one serving of mayonnaise (low-fat or regular, non-fat has too many additives in my opinion)

You obviously don’t have to, but I bought all of the ingredients at Trader Joe’s.

The best part about this one-stop-shopping is that Trader Joe’s guarantee that their products are made from non-GMO sources, which is important to me.

I’m okay with something not being organic as long as I know that it not gene manipulated. And I don’t know if any other company makes ready-to-eat guacamole hummus.

Do you have a recipe for a fast, healthy, vegetarian dish? Share it in the comments!

Tuna Salad Wrap with Avocado Mayonnaise

Babywearing a Dog

July 17, 2012 by Dagmar Bleasdale 22 Comments

I got this picture of Landon babywearing his dog one day after school when we were walking home.

He had forgotten his dog at a friend’s home and was lugging it home, so under his T-shirt it went.

Think Landon will be an attachment parenting dad when he grows up?

He wanted me to take this picture – I love the pose :)

How to Organize You Home’s Tool Box in 5 Minutes

July 16, 2012 by Dagmar Bleasdale 8 Comments

With a finish carpenter husband, you’d think we’d always have the right tools and supplies in the house.

Not so — when I’m looking for a screw or pliers or an allen wrench, I can’t find what I need half the time.

This is what my tool box looked like.

I love an organized house and have been wanting to organize my tool box so I can at least find the supplies that I do have.

So when I saw these see-through, divided containers at Target for only $1 each, I took that as a sign and bought three.

While Don and Landon were gone for a while today, I pulled out our tool box and dumped everything on the kitchen table.

I put all of the tools back into the plastic bin and then divided up the small hardware items like washers and screws in those little boxes.

And only five minutes later, my tool box looked like this:

Mission accomplished:

I now know which supplies we do have
I know where they are
I can easily find them in these inexpensive, see-through storage boxes

I’m kind of looking forward to the next time I want to to fix something or hang a picture — from now on it’s going to be so easy to find what I need.

It doesn’t have to take a lot of money or time to have an organized home.

Could your tool box use a makeover? Or do you have any tips on how you organize your home? Let us know in a comment!

Free and Fun Online Games That Teach Kids to Read

June 11, 2012 by Dagmar Bleasdale 3 Comments

As the youngest boy in his kindergarten class, Landon is still at the beginning of learning how to read and write.

He has made great progress throughout his year in kindergarten, but I want to keep working with him over the summer so he is ready for first grade.

It’s a bit of a challenge to keep L’s attention with schoolwork, so I have to be creative so he doesn’t get frustrated. I want learning to read to be exciting, not a struggle, for him and me.

I’ve bought many workbook, flash cards, and early reader books for our summer homeschooling work, but I also wanted to find him online games to make learning to read more fun.

It’s no secret that I’m not a fan of apps or online games for kids, and sure enough I couldn’t find any games on the Nick Jr. or Disney websites that weren’t cheesy, boring, or simply annoying.

But PBS Kids has a great selection of online games for kindergarten kids. I like the fact that you can choose between Easy, Medium, or Hard, that way we can keep playing a game that L likes once his skills get more solid.

Here is a list of free online games I found that would hold L’s interest and would actually help him with his letter recognition, letter sounds, spelling, and rhyming:

PBS Kids Kindergarten Online Letter Games

Starfall.com also seems an excellent resource for homeschooling work. Here are just a few games I liked:

Starfall.com Kindergarten Online Games

I think this list is a good start. Once I see that L has mastered these games, we’ll move on to more difficult ones.

We have enough workbooks, but if you need worksheets, here is a site with all kinds of free kindergarten worksheets.

I’ll keep you updated about L’s progress. I plan to write another post with more advanced spelling and rhyming games in the middle of the summer, and another one that focuses on online games for math skills. Come on back for that. For now, happy learning!

Do you know of online spelling or rhyming games that teach kids how to read? Leave a comment and share them with us!

Tuna Salad Wrap with Avocado Mayonnaise on Whole Wheat Tortilla

Tuna Salad Wrap with Avocado Mayonnaise

PBS Kids Kindergarten Online Letter Games

Starfall.com Kindergarten Online Games

Create a beautiful home on a budget!

Thank you!

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