Souper Suppers
What is your favorite fall soup? It’s time for cozy soup and salad dinners – souper suppers! I posted some summer salad recipes last summer so now it is time for some fall soup recipes. I usually make potato soup, tortilla soup, and pumpkin black bean soup in the fall. Having a family member who is gluten free and dairy free has challenged me to rework a few favorites for when they visit. Surprisingly the potato soup turned out much better than I expected. Here are two of my favorite soup recipes with gluten free, dairy free suggestions plus a free Thanksgiving printable! Pumpkin Black Bean Soup 3 – 15-19 ounce cans rinsed and drained black beans 1 – 14 1/2 ounce can drained chopped tomatoes 1 tablespoon butter (or oil of your choice) 2 medium chopped onions 3 cloves minced garlic 1/8 teaspoon salt 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper 4 teaspoons cumin (more or less to taste) 4 cups chicken broth 1 – 28 ounce can pumpkin (plain, not pumpkin pie mix!) In a large pan, heat butter on medium. Add onion, garlic, salt, pepper and cumin; cook 6 minutes or until onion of softened and light brown.…
Christmas in September
Are you a Christmas prepper or a last minute shopper? Go ahead and play your favorite Christmas album and start Christmas in September. Here are a few tips to help you avoid the financial and emotional stress of last minute Christmas shopping. Start now and stay within budget. First, make a list of those you will give gifts to. Family, friends, coworkers, teachers, and the dog sitter. Prioritize your list and make note of any gifts that need to be mailed ahead of time. Next, write down any gifts you already have or want to buy. I keep a running list and add to it throughout the year if I see or think of things they might like because I will certainly forget it when it’s time to shop. Some years I use a theme to help me organize my shopping. One year it was new games for everyone and another year it was books. This blog post talked about putting together travel bathroom bags for kids. Magazine or monthly box subscriptions are another fun way to spread out the cheer. Then think about the budget you have for gifts. This will look different for each person and each season…
Back to School Routines
What does back to school make you think of? For many adults, “back to school” conjures up shopping for school supplies like yellow No. 2 pencils and new folders. Supplies nowadays are ordered at the click of a button and homework routines involve watching YouTube while pretending to work. It’s time to get back to the healthy routines and rhythms of life. Here’s a few tips for setting your family or tutoring clients up for success. Choose a homework spot no matter if your child is 5 or 15. Give them a little say in the matter, even if it’s just what new supplies to add to their workstation. Make it easy for them to get started on school work each day. Choose a new school supply that is not on the list. Let your child choose a fun colored homework folder or a set of colored pencils for home. My kids and tutoring clients are always excited about new dry erase markers in fun colors. (Brainstorming essay outlines, math problems, and to do lists are always more fun on a dry erase board!) Draw up some back to school routines that work for your family. Consider bedtimes that allow…
Work From Home
What are your best reasons to work from home? Freedom to travel and flexibility in my daily schedule are the two biggest benefits of working from home. While I loved being a teacher, I love being a private tutor, business owner, and resource creator even more! Working from home has been a life-changer for me! We each have reasons and roadblocks when it comes to working from home or changing careers. Not everyone can or would benefit from working at home. But have you ever considered the possibility? Or have you ever considered working for yourself? Have you ever wished you could do your job a little differently but your boss isn’t on the same page? Working for myself and working from home has allowed me the freedom to individualize instruction for my tutoring clients. I get a chance to tailor a session to the needs of my client. I love it when I can see the lightbulb come on for a student, where learning and confidence meet. These are things that were possibly inside the classroom but not as individualized or as often as I wanted them to be. The health needs of my aging parents and grandfather ultimately…
July 4th Fireworks
How will you light up the sky on July 4th? July 4th is a day on every calendar, but is everyone celebrating life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness with fireworks? America’s first birthday celebration was July 1777, during the Revolutionary War. They were fighting for the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Bombs bursting in air do not usually give the same delight as fireworks yet both are a celebration of independence. Both types of fire light have lit up the sky for years as people fight for freedoms. Fireworks have been a common method of celebration across the world for centuries celebrating weddings, wealth, holidays, and patriotism. Fun fact: more than $300 million in fireworks are imported into the U.S. annually. Celebrating July 4 with fireworks and cookouts is a way of practicing happiness. It’s celebrating the finding and fighting for joy in everyday life. It’s about birthdays and dreams. The preamble to the American constitution says “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” The pursuit of…
Summer Balance For Kids
How many days will it take for you to first hear “I’m bored” from your kids this summer? Finding the balance between commitments and boredom is a tricky thing each summer depending on the age of your kids. Much needed rest after a busy school year is needed by both parents and kids, but many kids find it hard to occupy themselves after a few days. Some parents want to avoid this and sign their kids up for too many commitments during the summer, exhausting both the kids and the chauffeurs. Here’s a few tips to help your family find summer balance for kids. Pick a few commitments wisely. Nothing wrong with a summer camp or two. Consider researching a few your child might like and letting them pick one or two, not every week of summer. Same goes for recreational classes. Ask your kids to prioritize their top few interests and go from there. If budgets are limited, consider hosting a camp week swap with other families. You plan one fun theme day at your house complete with lunch and activities, then another families hosts the next day and so on. Easy and inexpensive themes are water day, water…
Summer Tutoring Openings 2022
What is on your summer schedule to promote academic growth in your children? Shocking but not surprising are the gaps in the reading development of US children in the past 2 years. Now is the time to sign up for summer tutoring! Summer tutoring clients will participate in literacy lessons, vocabulary practice, oral reading fluency, reading comprehension practice, and writing exercises geared towards the four building blocks of literacy (reading, writing, listening, and speaking). We hope to see significant improvement in multiple reading outcomes to bridge some of these gaps over the summer and avoid the summer slide which happens when students do not practice their skills over breaks. Getting a jump start on future reading progress will also help build confidence in children and set them up for success in the new school year. This summer at Tailor Joy, I am only offering reading tutoring as that seems to be the biggest educational need this year. The 2022 summer reading program is for confident and reluctant readers alike. Everyone has room for improvement and repeated practice. Summer READING Tutoring June 13 – August 26, 2022 What the summer sessions will look like: Oral fluency practice Vocabulary practice with a…
Be Your Own Boss
What would it look like to be your own boss? Being your own boss means you work for yourself. You carry all the heavy responsibilities, but you also celebrate all the personal and professional wins. It’s a roller coaster that many people are trying to decide if it’s worth getting in line for. Some of you have been on this ride. You know the ups and downs. Six percent of US employed people are self-employed and the average of self-employed workers worldwide is about 46% with variances across countries. For me, going into business for myself means that I have the freedom to set my own hours, and I can be available for my family whenever they need me. My former jobs have not been so flexible, and, when my aging parents needed my help, I ended up quitting my teaching job to help them out. Being my own boss provides me flexibility in my hours and my location. Since starting my own business I have worked at home, in coffee shops, at relatives’ houses, and across the globe. The COVID pandemic gave many people the opportunity to try working at home, but that still did not offer the flexibility…
Welcome Note for Guests
What makes you feel at home when you are a guest in someone’s house? Make your guests feel at home by leaving a framed welcome note for guests with helpful information on the dresser. Why do I say a framed note? That way you don’t have to rewrite it each time! Let’s get you started in making a note for your home. It’s quite easy. First, think about what guests might want to know when they visit you. WIFI password? Extra towels? Where the snacks are? Make a list of helpful things for guests. Next, add anything particular to your house. Maybe where to locate the ironing board, thermostat, tv, fuse box, and washing machine. Possibly add notes about the fitness options. Also, consider adding your contact information and location address. If a guest needs you or emergency services, having it on a note is quicker than looking it up. Lastly, what do you want guests to do upon departure? My guest note asks them to please put the sheets and towels on the bathroom floor before they leave and push “run” on the thermostat to return it to its usual settings. Whether or not I’m home when the guests…
Sprinkle Joy Like Confetti
What do you think about when you hear the quote “sprinkle joy like confetti”? “Sprinkle joy like confetti” is an interesting quote. Does it make you think of a celebration? A cupcake with sprinkles? One of those party poppers? I think of glitter! You know, the glitter that gets all over you and you can’t wipe it off because it just spreads more? I think about little flower girls in twirly glittery tule skirts at a friend’s wedding. Everyone who held one of those girls had glitter on them, their clothes, and their cheeks. The father of the bride said he even had glitter in the back of his pickup truck after hauling around wedding supplies! Pretty sure the sewing room was never again glitter-free! But you know what? That glitter spread joy! Today it brought back pleasant memories of a wedding, love, flower girls, food trucks, and family fun on a beautiful October afternoon. I want to sprinkle around that kind of joy with my words and deeds. I want to do things that make people smile in the moment and in the memory. May starts the busy summer season of parties and celebrations. Don’t wait for an invite…