Now Offering Consulting Services

I got a free shout out for my clinical practice this week via a local news report on mental health services for the uninsured.  (See full news story here.)

And as long as we're on the subject...

As a mental health provider, I recently began offering consulting services as a supplement to clinical mental health counseling services.  I was finding that frequently parents had questions and weren't sure where to go for answers.

Even more frequently, families needed simple ideas and resources more than they needed a mental health diagnosis for their child.

I found that progressively, I was offering this option to more and more families who called seeking counseling services, and often, after a few consulting sessions, the problems had been addressed.  Sometimes the solution really is that simple!  

Recently I have added the option to offer similar services to parents outside the Salt Lake area via internet, phone, or email consultations.

For more information visit the consulting services tab or visit my counseling website here.

For more about our own (sometimes crazy) parenting journey see here or select the parenting topic in the label section of sidebar.

Happy parenting!  (Because happy and parenting are not oxymorons.)

Wordless Wednesday Prank

Would you plant these in the back yard to see if you could grow a donut tree?  I have two girls who got really excited about the idea.  Fun times!

Eyesight Over 40

I had my first over forty-bad-eyes experience today.  

Actually, I've seen it coming for a while (pun intended)...the tiny print on food labels and medication bottles...blinking a few times then being able to read it.  I just need a new contact prescription, right?

But tonight I had one of those moments where it was hard to deny what was happening.  

Gabby had a sliver in her foot "that has been there since I was eight, but I think it happened yesterday."

It had at least been in there long enough that it was really, really in there.

My only other experience with Gabby and needles to this point in our relationship wasn't pretty.  It involved two nurses and myself and vaccinations.  

I wasn't super excited to repeat that experience, so I gave the needle to her.  The entire family was piled on our bed watching TV and giving Gabby pointers:

"You have to let mom do it,"

"If you look at the TV, you can't even feel it."

"Just wear shoes when you go outside and you won't get slivers in your feet."  

After a few minutes she gave me the needle, and told me to do it.  She leaned up against Tim for support and we agreed that if it hurt, she'd say, "Ow!" instead of kicking.  She was awesome!

But my eyes weren't.

That tiny needle...that tiny sliver...They just weren't connecting.

I said I couldn't see it, so Gabby helped by moving her foot closer.  I pulled back to see.  That's when I knew I was really in the over-forty bad eye crowd.  

After a while she decided to try again...

By this time everyone but Tim, Gabby and I were in bed...but as you can see Tim's support role had taken on a very passive role.

A few minutes after I snapped this shot, I got out the flashlight and Gabby said it helped but her leg was hurting from being bent, so she held the flashlight for me while I tried again.  Success!  

But I still don't need drugstore glasses...

As long as Gabby wears shoes outside..  And as long as she'll hold the flashlight for me

Change of topic:  I just have to brag for a minute.  I came home from work this afternoon to this:

Bottled beans, compliments of Tim

Being the prepared-for-any-emergency type, our storage room has been stocked with dry beans for years...beans we'll never use because we buy them in cans.

Tim learned from my sister-in-law (thanks Melissa!) about bottling them so you can use them.  Water.  Beans. Salt.  Pressure cooker.  

No wonder he was so exhausted!

Mother's Day and Peanut Butter and Pickle Sandwiches

I woke up to the sound of things happening in the kitchen...

Things that I wasn't supposed to be a part of, so I stayed in bed as long as I could.

I think I already said in a previous post I didn't want sugar today.  And I knew they weren't making smoothies.  This was their creation:

My healthy crêpe recipe...

With Mickey Mouse ears, "just like Dad makes."

With strawberries and whipped cream, which I also requested.  (I make whipped cream with stevia instead of sugar, so there's no sugar on that plate.)

And I love the homemade gifts on Mother's Day... 

Here are some pictures of just a few:  

A very cute pop-up card.

And my very own award...

A paper flower bouquet colored with scented markers so the flowers have a real scent...very creative.

And the real flowers they all gave me yesterday.

They also wouldn't let me help much today.  Every time I tried to do something they made me plant myself on the couch.  

Torture.

Tim asked earlier today what I wanted for dinner...

Then after close to forty-eight hours of not sleeping, he finally fell asleep.  (It's shift work, not Tim who gets blamed for the lack of dinner at our house this evening.)

Then out of the blue Joie asked if she could make a peanut butter and pickle sandwich...which is funny because a friend just posted on my wall on facebook a few days ago that she remembered making peanut butter and pickle sandwiches at my parent's house when we were in college.

But Joie learned it from her mom (my sister)

Who learned it from our mom.

And suddenly I was craving peanut butter and pickle sandwiches also, so in honor of the peanut butter and pickle sandwich being passed down through three whole generations of moms, that's what we had for dinner.

And chips, because that's what Gabby wanted (Lay's Natural...check out the ingredient list here... probably not considered health food, but that's not a bad ingredient list.)

"And everyone grab some carrots or peas out of the refrigerator," I said, but I don't think they listened.  (It may very well be that pickles were the only vegetable my children ate today.)

And the healthy crêpe recipe just in case you're dying to try it... 

(I have said before I'm not a talented cook, correct?)

Healthy Crêpes:

I put 8-10 eggs, 1 1/2 cups of oats, and about 1 cup of almond milk in the Vitamix and blend it beyond recognition (the oats become the only flour).

Heat butter or oil in a frying pan or skillet and pour in batter and cook.

The recipe was created out of desperation last year to feed a allergy-ridden child, and we continue to use it in place of pancakes.  Adjust the ingredients to get the taste and texture you want.  If you use vanilla almond milk you don't have to add sweetener.  

Toppings we love:  strawberries and whipped cream, 100% pure maple syrup, fruit spread...  I suppose peanut butter and pickles could also work.

Hope your Mother's Day was a good one!

Favorite Quotes About Mothers

It's been a lot of fun thinking and blogging about mothers this week before Mother's Day.  My children have been asking all week what I like for breakfast, hoping I'll say something other than green smoothies, but they're out of luck...

And I don't want sugar.  That was my only other request.  (I could see the disappointment in their eyes...and a little in mine.)

I'm sharing some of my favorite quotes about mothers today.  Enjoy!

If evolution really works, how come mothers only have two hands?
Milton Berle

A mom reads you like a book, and wherever she goes, people read you like a glowing book review. Robert Brault

All mothers are working mothers. ~Author Unknown  

My mother had a great deal of trouble with me, but I think she enjoyed it. Mark Twain

I've been through it all, baby, I'm mother courage. Elizabeth Taylor



And this one is circulating all over the internet, but just in case you haven't seen it yet...  (No tissue warning on this one...but get ready to laugh!)