Cynacism come each time this year.

Last year I wrote a blog post dedicated to all those people out there that do not have a father in their lives. The ones that had been left behind by someone they never knew who had better things to do. The entire post is completely and utterly still entirely relevant.

I wonder if this hurt will ever go away.

Having had the life experience of a seed donor father and then the Earth-shattering experience of an adoptive abusive one, my views on fathers in general is tainted at best, mildly cynical and mostly sarcastic.

I wonder if I'll ever look at a father -any father, anywhere- and not immediately expect the utter worst.

I've also decided for both an opportunity for personal growth and to fictionally share my experiences I'm going to start writing some stories that have come into my head that deal with these issues. They will be adult content stories, the length will work itself out as I write. I might write about the same content: abused teen girls dealing with their situations. I might write long stories or short ones. I just don't know yet. But I have had a feeling for quite awhile that I need to share these fictional stories. Some things will be hard to read; they're supposed to be. But I hope that by my writing I can open up topics for discussions between children and their parents, show other adult abuse survivors that there is nothing to be silent about.

I started this a long time ago writing a short story about a girl named Krista*. It's free on Scribd. I hope you will read it.

*Krista is an adult short story that includes graphic material. Please be advised.

I bow to no man.

I hate Florida. Yes, hate it. Well...at least I hate May through about September. I usually get distracted around my birthday but sometimes I even hate it up to November regardless of celebratory goodness. I hate Florida for the majority of the year because it is too. damn. hot.

Last June, IndieTutes posted about some pops she made packed with healthy stuff that she let her kids consume at will without any of the cringing that I have been doing every time my kids whine for the 100 count box of neon ice pop sticks I bought in a fit of neurosis at Target a few months ago. What the what was I thinking?!?

Anywho, mental lapses and Red 40 aside plus the year it took me to actually do this, the kids and I gathered 'round the blender and made us some frozen pop mixes. These can be 100% tweaked to become vegan if you so desire, or just switch out ingredients for your own food allergies/protein requirements/tastes. The point of the following *recipes* is that these are pretty much bomb-proof and are -in fact- the bomb. You can't go wrong mixing stuff together and rocking breakfast with a cool treat when it is already 80+ degrees and rising and I haven't finished my first cup of coffee.

Kids love anything on a stick. Or that they think they're not allowed to have.

Here are the three recipes I created and amazingly remembered to write down and then promptly lost the paper so they're round-abouts. More like recipe suggestions, if you will. I used dollar section pop molds I picked up a few years ago at Target. These are fairly small pop molds so YMMV.

Cherry Berry
2/3 cup yogurt (we used strawberry)
16 fresh cherries pitted (duh)
1/3 cup milk
4 frozen strawberries
1 banana

Banana Chocolate PB
1 banana
1tbs cocoa powder
2/3 cup pb (wayyy too much)
1/3 cup milk
1tbs wheat germ

Apple Cucumber
3 large apples
1/2 large cucumber
1/3 cup water
1/2 banana
1tsp wheat germ

Strawberry Banana
1 banana
6 large frozen strawberries
2/3 cup yogurt (strawberry again for us)
1 tbs wheat germ


The moral of the recipe here is that you can pretty much mix up whatever you want and since they're frozen, called pops and on a stick your kids will pretty much eat them all.

My Review

Originally submitted at locknlockplace.com

Nice and heavy

By ccipriani from Fort White, FL on 6/3/2011

 

4out of 5

Pros: Easy To Use, Good Design, Durable, Safety Features, Quality Materials

Cons: Lids aren't BPA free

Best Uses: Big Jobs, Outside, Gifts, Small Jobs, Inside

Describe Yourself: Beginner

I bought this set and a few others to begin our transition from traditional plastics to a more renewable and chemical friendly alternative. One thing that I noticed right away (because I had trouble lifting the box it was packed it) was the weight of these dishes, they are not flimsy glass.

I have always loved LnL products since finding them in Target years ago and have had trouble finding them since. A BIG part of my love is the locking lid, something that my young kids can open and close and I feel confident the tops arent going to pop off as soon as they move them because it was too difficult to seal them properly. They stack well, wash up beautifully and are durable (though I don't recommend trying it, my kids have dropped these during dishwasher duty and they haven't even chipped -the glass not the kids though they held up well, too).

My only -slight- complaint is that the lids aren't listed (which means they probably aren't since LnL has a huge section devoted to promoting it) BPA free. While this isn't a huge problem as the food rarely comes in contact with the lids during storage, I do feel a bit squeemish about using the lids when reheating. So, I usually just don't put them in with it.

I find myself reaching for these for everything, mixing small things, carrying food to the grill, storing food from the garden, side dishes, serving dishes, marinating (which is great because the seal is so tight you can flip and shake without worrying it'll explode all over the kitchen), making and storing trail mix, the list goes on but I won't.

The only other con -but not for the product- was that LnL took a good while to ship these to me but I bought it during a promotion and they had some back order. They didn't ship anything until everything in the order was available to ship. So, if you're looking to buy as a gift, I'd do it well in advance.

(legalese)

Blackberry Jamboree

We're still in high blackberry picking mode over here. I just can't pass up the plethora of free fruit sitting in the back yard. The passion fruits are sloooowly ripening, there must be at least a dozen of them. I have store away about 4 pounds of blackberries in .5lb zippy bags in the freezer but they're coming in faster than we can eat them. Preserving and using them is top priority.

I took approx. 5 cups (which is about 2lbs) and cooked them down to a low sugar blackberry jam. I used Sure Jell's low sugar pectin this time and had a much better gelling than with the Gel-EZ I bought in bulk on Amazon. We use one of these little half pint jars in our house during one meal of PB&J. Stockpiling jam is a serious necessity. I also found RealFruit Low/No sugar pectin in a jar at Walmart which I will try with a second batch.

Blackberries are a funny thing, they're tart cousins of raspberries. You either love them or hate them, there is no middle ground I've found. But I dare anyone that dislikes the tart juice of a blackberry to refuse a slice of this blackberry buttermilk cake. It's OMG good and easily devoured. Make two, you're going to need it.

The bushes that were brimming a few weeks ago (yes, I've been harvesting 1-3lbs a day for weeks) are dying down and the last patches that held out are bursting with fruit. I give blackberry picking season another week at most. By preserving them, I can relive it the rest of the year.