Christina, Author at A Mommy Story

Sep 22, 2014

Eat Ice Cream Again Without Tooth Sensitivity

September 22, 2014 By Christina

This is a sponsored post written in partnership with One2One Network and Crest.

I have sensitive teeth, so anything cold against those sensitive spots sends instant electric shocks of pain deep into my teeth. It’s disruptive enough that I have learned coping behaviors to avoid the pain. I prefer to drink cold drinks with a straw, and I like my ice cream in a spoonable form, rather than an ice cream bar that I’d have to bite into.

And I’m not alone: it’s estimated that over 33 million households have dental hypersensitivity, with women tending to suffer from sensitive teeth more than men. That’s a lot of people having mild to severe pain due to everyday factors like eating cold, hot, or sweet foods, or even having cold air hit their teeth. Thankfully, my pain is still relatively mild compared to some. It’s not pleasant, but it’s also not long-lasting when it happens.

I recently had the chance to attend a meeting with Dr. Robert Gerlach, a Research Fellow with Proctor and Gamble, and Dr. Travis Stork, Emmy® nominated TV host of The Doctors and board-certified emergency medicine physician. They discussed the causes of dental hypersensitivity, the current products to treat it, and the latest product from Crest that promises to provide greater relief to hypersensitivity sufferers. [Read more…]

Filed Under: healthy living, Sponsored-AF

Sep 11, 2014

Zucchini Muffins: A Veggie and A Treat

September 11, 2014 By Christina

I’m not fond of the heat of summer, but I do like many of the fruits and veggies that are produced from the warmer weather. I’m especially fond of zucchini. It’s such a versatile vegetable – and it’s easy to hide in other foods for picky kids.

It was zucchini that came to my rescue when I was trying to find a way to get the kids to eat more vegetables a few years ago. They were both stubbornly refusing to try new vegetables. If it required hiding the veggies in another food, I was willing to try it.

Of course, I’m not much of a cook, and only slightly better at baking. But my most successful attempt so far would have to be my zucchini muffins. I’ve been able to put 3+ cups of grated zucchini into the batter and the kids still think it’s a treat. While at first they didn’t know there were vegetables in their muffins, I eventually told them. They were surprised, yet that knowledge didn’t stop them from eating more. I think it helped convince them that it’s worth trying new vegetables. I tricked them into eating zucchini, and years later they still beg me to make these muffins with even more zucchini in them.

I’ve posted this recipe before, but thought I’d share it again in case you’re having a good zucchini growing year. These are great to pack as dessert for school lunches or as part of a breakfast. Or as a late night snack, in my case.

Zucchini Muffins

Ingredients:

3 cups flour (I prefer whole wheat flour)
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
3 teaspoons ground cinnamon*
* substitute nutmeg or other spice here if you have a cinnamon allergy (my girls have mostly outgrown their intolerance to it)
3 eggs
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup natural applesauce (no sugar added)
1/2 cup white sugar
1 cup brown sugar *
* you can use all white sugar if you like, but I prefer the addition of brown – go with your preference
3 teaspoons vanilla extract (REAL vanilla ONLY)
3 cups grated zucchini
1 cup chopped walnuts

Directions:

1. Grease two muffin pans. (I use cooking spray.) I like to use one standard muffin pan and one pan for mini-muffins. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.

2. Sift flour, salt, baking powder, soda, and cinnamon together in a bowl. Don’t have a sifter? A whisk works well enough.

3. Beat eggs, oil, applesauce, vanilla, and sugars together in a large bowl. Add sifted dry ingredients to the creamed mixture, and beat well. Stir in zucchini and nuts until well combined. Pour or spoon into greased muffin pans, filling each space only 2/3 to 3/4 full to allow for expansion. (OK, I’ll be honest here. I top them off for bigger muffins.)

4. Bake for 30-35 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center of a muffin comes out clean. Cool in pan on racks for 20 minutes. Then remove muffins from pan and completely cool.

Cooling them while still in the pan is important. I found if I take them out of the pan too soon, they become hard on the outside.

If you’re going to keep these muffins around for more than a few days (good luck – they go fast here), store them in the fridge. A quick 5-10 sec. microwave zap will warm them up again.

They can also be frozen if you choose to make several batches due to getting 14 zucchini all at once. Just sayin’.

Also, while I may call it “my” recipe, it’s actually a slightly modified version of a zucchini bread recipe on AllRecipes.com. Changes to the original recipe included cutting the oil in half and substituting applesauce for the other half, using whole wheat flour, cutting back on the amount of sugar and using brown sugar. I’ve tried several variations on the recipe, including substituting 1/2 cup of ground flax seed for 1/2 cup of flour, and nearly every variation has still turned out well. It’s a great recipe to play with and make your own.

Added bonus: after baking these, your entire house smells delicious for the next 12 hours!

Filed Under: food

Sep 3, 2014

Planning Our Dining for the WDW Princess Half Weekend

September 3, 2014 By Christina

When it comes to Disney, we’re planners. Due to how quickly runDisney events sell out, we signed up for our races within 15 minutes of registration opening, which meant we knew in mid-July that we’d be going back to Walt Disney World for the Princess Half Marathon weekend in late February. Which then started us down the path of planning our full trip: how many days would we stay, which parks would we go to on each day, and several other choices to make. Yes, I already have a spreadsheet for our trip…like I said, we’re planners.

We’ve decided on the days we’ll be there now, but we’re waiting to book our resort package until the spring package sale prices are released. This usually happens in October, so we’re going to patiently wait a bit longer to book our room, park tickets and meal plan. (But believe me, I’d rather have it all planned already.)

The schedule for the parks is published well in advance. If you’re staying at a Walt Disney World resort, it’s worth looking at the schedule to see which parks have Magic Hours that day, giving you an extra hour before the park opens to the public or an hour after the park closes to the public. I love Magic Hours – we’ve had great luck in using that time to easily get on more popular rides without the long lines.

But there was one thing I was especially looking forward to as a result of knowing our schedule this far in advance: dining reservations.

There are dozens of great restaurants at Disney World, so planning out your dining this far in advance may seem crazy. However, it’s really a good idea to get your table service dining reservations as soon as possible. For our last two trips, we made our dining reservations about 2-3 months before our trip, and while we were lucky to get reservations everywhere we wanted, the times available were lousy. Having dinner at Be Our Guest is magical, but less so when your reservation is at 9:20pm and one of your kids falls asleep at the table before she can even take three bites of food.

So this time, we started as early as possible. You can make dining reservations up to 180 days in advance for Walt Disney World. Now, what you may not realize is that you don’t need to already have your park tickets or hotel in place in order to make a dining reservation. You can have all of your dining plans in place before you have any other element of your vacation planned other than the dates you’re planning to be there.

We’re planning to have the Disney Dining Plan again this year, which is a pre-paid meal plan that covers one quick-service (walk-up) meal, one table service meal, and one snack per person each day. What I like the most about this plan is that it also covers character dining – those experiences can often be pricier than a regular meal, but there’s no up-charge if you’re using the meal plan. (The exception is Cinderella’s Royal Table, which requires two table service credits per person.)

Here’s a peek at which restaurants we’re planning to visit during our Princess Half Marathon vacation:

Sanaa – This will be our first visit to Sanaa at the Animal Kingdom Villas. I’ve heard so many good things about this restaurant that I can’t wait to check out the fusion of African and Indian flavors. And thanks to the magic of Disney, Aaron will be able to have naan again in a gluten-free version. While I’m looking forward to the food, I also can’t wait to check out the scenery: this restaurant sits on the edge of the African Sunset Savannah, offering views of animals like zebras, giraffes, gazelles and more.

T-REX – After the half marathon on Sunday, there’s a post-race celebration in Downtown Disney that evening, so we wanted to find a late lunch option nearby. We’ve been to a few of the Downtown Disney restaurants, but wanted something new that might wow the kids. T-REX looks like it will do the job. Dining surrounded by dinosaurs, including a 15 ft. T-Rex, should be a lot of fun. Cordy is already looking forward to the Chocolate Extinction dessert.

‘Ohana – This isn’t just a breakfast at the Polynesian Village resort. It’s also a character meal with Lilo, Stitch, and friends. Last year was our first ‘Ohana breakfast. Mira loves Stitch more than any other character, so after Stitch took her hand and let her lead the parade with him around the dining area, of course we knew we’d be coming back! The food is amazing, too: a platter filled with a rainbow of fruit, bacon, sausage, eggs, fried potatoes, breads…and did I mention it’s all you can eat? We’ll be enjoying breakfast here on Monday after the half marathon weekend, and I’m sure we’ll all be happy to fill up on plenty of good food while visiting with Stitch again.

Akershus Royal Banquet Hall – This is THE place to dine with the princesses at Epcot. (And the only place for this many princesses at WDW when we’ll be there – Cinderella’s Royal Table will be closed for renovations.) We’ve been to this restaurant twice for breakfast, but this time we’re going in the afternoon to check out the Norwegian lunch menu. Cordy and Mira love the Princess Storybook Dining – each of the princesses visit every table for autographs and photos. We’ve never felt rushed with any of the princesses and they do their best to create a personal experience for each kid. I also enjoy looking at the beautiful interior of this restaurant – it really feels like you’re dining in a medieval castle.

Sci-Fi Dine-In Theater Restaurant – Imagine having a meal in a classic car, parked at a retro style drive-in theater, while clips of 50’s sci-fi B-movies play on the screen with the stars twinkling overhead. That’s exactly what you can experience at this Hollywood Studios restaurant! This is one of Aaron’s favorites – he loves old sci-fi movies, and the way they create a nighttime, open-air atmosphere inside a building is amazing. The tables look like cars, all facing the movie screen, complete with (dimmed) headlights and tail lights. Our first visit to this restaurant was on the trip for our first anniversary in 2004. The food is great, the glowing ice cubes are fun, and it really feels like you’re in a completely different place.

That’s what we’ve got so far, and I’m very excited! It’s a good thing I’ll be running a 10K before we start all of this eating!

Filed Under: Disney, travel

Aug 26, 2014

CCS Transportation Department Twitter Abuse

August 26, 2014 By Christina

I mentioned that last week was a bumpy start to the new school year, but at the time of writing that, I had no idea what would happen the remainder of the day.

Right after I hit the Publish button on Friday, the school called. I learned that Cordy had been having a very rough day, eventually landing herself in the principal’s office. I talked with the principal, then with Cordy, and when I hung up the phone I was a stressed out mess, worried that Cordy wouldn’t be able to adjust to the gifted classroom and that there just wasn’t any possible good fit for her at school. (Note: Yesterday went much better, followed by an even worse day today. I’m trying to remain hopeful that these are just a momentary freak outs over her new routine and the roller coaster will smooth out soon. Now please don’t let the school call again tomorrow.)

I hoped that the bus would make it to the school on time Friday afternoon. The first two days it was 30 minutes late to the school, and while I was not too upset at the delay, I was frustrated at the lack of communication on the delay from the Transportation department of Columbus City Schools. Our district’s Transportation department has a Twitter account with the sole purpose of notifying parents about delayed bus routes. Yet for the first two days, our bus route wasn’t listed among the delay notices. I tweeted my frustration about this the first two days, pointing out the tool isn’t very useful if they only post some of the delays and not all.

When I checked the Twitter stream around the end of the school day, I was puzzled to see this tweet:

(I blocked out the name of our school in the image)

That’s our route, but according to this tweet it was on-time. This twitter account is for route delays, and they’ve never posted about a route being on-time. I was confused – why was there a need to post that?

But then it got even more bizarre:

So? This is not an update. The person replying has a real delay in need of an update, not us.

Again, this is not a delay and was completely unnecessary. Was the Transportation department mocking me with passive-aggressive tweets because I had complained about not updating all of the late routes? Surely they couldn’t be that unprofessional, right?

But then it continued:

Edits made by me to hide street names. I like all of you, but I’m not giving out the intersection near my house.

I was stunned by the childish behavior being demonstrated by a representative of Columbus City Schools. Meanwhile, other parents were sending tweets in reply saying their children’s routes were running late and they weren’t seeing the updates online. Was Transportation too busy playing this twisted game with me to actually do their job?

And finally:

I had to respond at that point.

What a petty, spiteful action to take because I called out the continuing communications breakdown with Transportation. Instead of productively using those complaints to improve services, they instead chose to be childish and harass me. Another bad decision in a series of bad decisions with this department.

But wait…it gets better!

I started calling attention to these tweets, pointing out the misuse of a district account and resources to act maliciously towards a parent. Others began commenting on the behavior. And then, over the weekend, POOF – ALL of the thousands of tweets ever sent from that account mysteriously vanished. At first, I thought they had blocked me from seeing any of their updates, but others quickly confirmed that they weren’t seeing any tweets in the account, either.

I wondered if maybe they were trying to destroy all evidence of the misbehavior, but I’d already told them I had screen shots of all of the tweets, so that seems silly. And deleting everything seemed a little extreme. For a district that’s already been found guilty of deleting student data, deleting district tweets seems like a really bad move to make.

The Twitter account was updating again as of Monday morning. But again, the slate was wiped clean before each new bus run. Why use a social media service when you plan to set each message with a self-destruct by the end of the day? Could it be they’ve figured out that leaving an electronic paper trail of the never-ending bus delays (or lack of updates on said delays) might be harmful to their reputation? Yet it’s even more harmful to deliberately cover your trail, too, especially for a group with a less-than-honest reputation.

Overall, I’m disappointed in the Transportation department and just as disappointed in the district. I emailed all of the Board of Education members and Dr. Good (the superintendent) on Sunday night about this issue, complete with screen shots of the tweets.

So far, the only response has been from the superintendent’s assistant, telling me he was occupied and she was forwarding my concerns on to the Transportation director. I know how to contact the Transportation director – had I wanted to email him, I would have included his email address on there the first time. I specifically chose not to include him because I don’t believe he can or will do anything to fix the situation, just like how nothing was accomplished to better track buses last year. (And in a plot non-twist…no response from him.)

No one else included in that email has reached out to me. I’d like to say I’m surprised by this, but it seems to be common around here. I did receive a voice mail from someone in the Customer Relations phone center, but I know those call center workers have no power to accomplish anything – their purpose is to create a public record that the school district responded to the complaint, despite actually doing anything to address it.

It’s sad. Sad that an employee of a school district could be so unprofessional and childish at his or her job. Sad that a Transportation department would rather stick its head in the sand rather than accept criticism to tackle the idea of making things better. And sad that the school district can’t see the enormous communications breakdown happening between the district and the parents, or care enough about parents to want to enact change.

Filed Under: big issues, school

Aug 22, 2014

A Bumpy Start to School

August 22, 2014 By Christina

School started on Wednesday, but it hasn’t been as smooth as I’d hoped it would be. Honestly, this has probably been one of the hardest back-to-school weeks we’ve endured.

The week started with me getting what I thought was a small cold. By Monday evening I could tell it was spiraling into something worse, so I kept drinking lots of water, taking vitamins and supplements, and hoping it would go away. On Tuesday I was feeling run down, but determined to finish getting supplies packed into backpacks and clothing set out so everything would be perfect for the first day of school.

Wednesday started on a high note. The girls were awake, excited, and ready for their first day. And somehow Mira grew from 7 to 14 overnight.

No really, why does she look ready for high school?

The bus was even here only a couple of minutes late. I expect that on the first day, as drivers are still getting used to routes and some kids take longer than expected to get onto the bus. Cordy was a little nervous, and as the driver and aide greeted the kids she asked, “Are you nice? Because I had a mean bus helper in first grade and I didn’t like her.” The aide responded, “Oh, I think I’ve been on a bus with you before.” I’m really hoping it wasn’t in first grade…

But the bus pulled away with two happy kids, I settled into a (peaceful!) day of work, with only Cosmo curled up next to me and a whopping sinus headache to endure. I was pretty sure it was a full-blown sinus infection at this point. Even my fatigue couldn’t get me down, especially since there were no calls home from the school during the school day.

Then at 4pm, half an hour after the end of the school day and just as I was starting to wonder if the bus would show on time, I received a call from the school. I expected it to be an update on how Cordy’s first day had gone. Instead, it was her teacher telling me that Cordy and Mira were still at school, as their bus had not shown up yet and the school didn’t know where it was.

Seriously?? I expect first day delays, but when the bus hasn’t shown up to the school 30 minutes after it was due, and no one knows where it is or when to expect it, that’s a problem. I sent Aaron a message quickly and he left work to go pick them up, rather than wait for who knows how long for the bus to arrive.

While waiting, I checked the transportation department’s Twitter feed – which is designed to alert parents to bus routes running late – and despite notices for several other routes, ours wasn’t listed. What good is an alert system if you only provide updates on some of the routes?

When Aaron and the kids got home, the girls looked exhausted. Gone was the excitement of the morning, replaced by sweaty hair and shirts and half-open eyes. They said they’d had a good first day, but it was very hot at school. (No air conditioning in the building, and it was near 90 degrees.) We went through their folders and pulled out the requisite first day stacks of paperwork for me to fill out.

We ordered pizza as a special treat for the first day of school. Mira only ate one little square of pizza, and despite being home in air conditioning, looked really worn out. At one point she asked me, “Do I feel warm?” I placed my hand on her forehead and said, “No, sweetie, you’re cool to the touch. And a little clammy, too.” Half an hour before bedtime, she announced she was going to go to bed because she felt so awful.

But before she could go upstairs, she suddenly clamped her lips tightly together and had that wide-eyed look that all parents quickly recognize – she was about to vomit. Aaron rushed her into the bathroom and they made it just in time. After that excitement, we cleaned her up and, in true Mira fashion, she said “It’s a good thing I only ate one piece of pizza!”

She said she felt better and so we put her to bed. At first I thought her vomiting was probably related to being in the heat all day. Cordy had a 24-hour stomach virus on Saturday, but those tend to have short incubation periods, so Mira would have been sick long before Wednesday, right? I convinced myself that her proclamation of feeling better meant it was a one-time thing.

My assurances fell apart about five minutes later when she started vomiting again. And then 15 minutes after that. And 20 minutes after that. It was clear now that this wasn’t related to the heat. She finally stopped vomiting around 2:30am.

I slept fitfully the rest of the night, waking up with sinus pain and coughing. At 7:15am yesterday, I dragged myself downstairs to help Cordy get ready for school. The second day of school routine wasn’t nearly as cheery. Even though Mira was already on the couch sipping juice and announcing she felt better, I knew she wasn’t able to go to school. So yesterday she spent the day on the couch, watching Phineas and Ferb episodes all day long, while I sat across from her doing my best to get a little work done through the brain fog and exhaustion. I felt bad that Mira had to miss the second day of second grade – what a lousy way to start.

And then at 4:05pm, the phone rang. It was the school, telling me that the bus had just shown up five minutes ago, so to expect Cordy to be home late. 30 minutes late to the school again? And yet again, no notice on the Twitter feed. Oh wait, they updated after I complained to them on Twitter. But they updated 10 minutes AFTER all kids had been dropped off. Thanks for letting us know the bus was on its way back to the depot empty.

Guess who has earned themselves the special honor of being my project this year? I’m utterly fed up with transportation, and it’s only the second day of the school year. I can understand some delays at the start of the year, but their lack of communication and their lack of respect for parents and students is unbelievable. I’ve heard some horrible stories from other parents already, too. Stories that make ours look minor.

The good news is that we’re hopefully ending the week on a positive note. Mira was completely recovered by last night, so she happily went to school today. The bus was on time this morning. And I think I’m finally starting to get over this sinus infection. Now if the bus could make it to the school on time this afternoon, we’ll hopefully have a perfect day to end the week.

Filed Under: Mira, plague, school