Yummy Fruit Smoothie Recipe

Every week a guest speaker comes into the 5th grade science classes to do a program called "Just Be It! Healthy and Fit." It is sponsored by the New Mexico State University College of Agricultural, Consumer, and Environmental Sciences department and is funded through the US Department of Agriculture Cooperative Extension Service. According to the website I linked above, this program "reduces the risk factors for childhood obesity of 5th grade students located in the New Mexico Counties of Santa Fe, Rio Arriba, and Los Alamos." The kids really like the program and are learning so much about how to live healthy lives and make good choices about food and exercise. I've learned a lot as well!

Each lesson ends with a healthy snack that the kids can prepare themselves. We've had different fruits, vegetables, pita pockets, dips, and trail mix. Today's special treat was a fruit smoothie. I really don't have smoothies very often so for me to be impressed with one says something about the recipe. Hopefully I don't get in trouble for sharing it here.  I have, after all, given the credit where due.

Just Be It! Fruit Smoothie

2 cups nonfat vanilla yogurt

2 cups fruit (we used 1 banana and 1 cup frozen fruit smoothie blend from the grocery store)

1/2 cup apple juice

1/2 cup pineapple-mango juice

1 cup crushed ice

Put all the ingredients into a blender and turn it on for about 30 seconds.  Makes about 6 cups.

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What a Bummer

Many have made the pilgrimage to stand on the spot where four states come together.  There is a place in the southwest where the four states of Colorado, Utah, Arizona, and New Mexico all intersect.  How exciting to be able to tell people, "I stood in four states at once!"

But now it has been discovered that due to human surveying error, that sweet spot is actually about 2 1/2 miles east of where it is currently marked.  What a bummer!

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San Diego vs Los Alamos

I spent spring break in San Diego and always like going there. The area has so much to offer, not only for tourists, but also for residents (or so I assume based on family who live or have lived in the area). Of course, the climate is mild and pleasant, but also there are the beaches, all of the parks (Zoo and Wild Animal Park, Sea World, Legoland), museums galore, a vibrant downtown, convenient retail with so many shopping options, a variety of restaurants, a major airport, the state university (UCSD), and did I mention the beaches?

All of the above are things that I do not experience in the small town that I live in so it is always difficult to transition back from vacation to life at home. Especially coming from a mild and warm spring in San Diego to frigid cold days with gusty winds here. There are seasons and a mountain climate here that don't agree with my need for warmth, there is no ocean (or hardly any water anywhere), there is not a lot to do for activities unless you drive "off the hill" and there's only one very small museum in town. Retail is a joke unless you drive an hour to Santa Fe or two hours to Albuquerque (or shop online). Downtown consists of one or two blocks and is always closed up after 6pm and on the weekends. There are hardly any restaurants here, either, and a majority of them only serve during the lunch hour. Housing prices are too high for what you can get. Employment opportunities are few unless you have a Ph.D. and can dedicate yourself to working 40 hours a week or more.

So what does this town have? Beautiful mountains with many hiking and biking trails, beautiful pine trees, great historical sites and geology, and mild summers (unless you count the afternoon thunderstorms that can roll in from time to time). The skies at night are so clear that you can see how amazing the stars are. The skies are such a vivid blue because there is no pollution. The community is small and is made up of a hodge podge of people from all over the place (few natives here) so everyone is friendly and the businesses really do go out of their way to provide good customer service. It is safe here with hardly any crime and the schools are the best in the state (but the nearest state university is in Albuquerque). Another benefit is that there is not a lot of noise or traffic.

There are tradeoffs for any place where a person lives. Good and bad is all relevant, I guess. I am just thankful for being employed and for having a home in these difficult times.

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April

(Painting: "Fields in Spring" by Claude Monet)
Where has the time gone? It is already April. My sister informs me that April is National Poetry Month. I already knew that April is Autism Awareness Month, but out of curiosity, I Googled what else April is (besides the 4th month of the Gregorian calendar). It is also Alcohol Awareness Month, Sexual Assault Awareness Month, Genocide Prevention Month, and National STD Awareness Month. For an amazingly long list, click the link here at "April Holidays 2009". It also lists weekly and daily observances for April.

So back to Poetry Month....on my sister's blog, my mom mentioned in a comment that she remembers reciting a Robert Frost poem in 7th grade, which is one of my favorites.

Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening

Whose woods these are I think I know.
His house is in the village though;
He will not see me stopping here
To watch his woods fill up with snow.
My little horse must think it queer
To stop without a farmhouse near
Between the woods and frozen lake
The darkest evening of the year.
He gives his harness bells a shake
To ask if there is some mistake.
The only other sound's the sweep
Of easy wind and downy flake.
The woods are lovely, dark and deep.
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep. 

But my all time favorite poem is one of the only poems that I have memorized (besides some cute Shel Silverstein poems:  "Fuzzy Wuzzy was a bear, Fuzzy Wuzzy had no hair, Fuzzy Wuzzy wasn't very fuzzy was he?").  It is also by Robert Frost and I read it for the first time in S.E. Hinton's book, "The Outsiders" that I read as a teenager. It is pretty appropriate for spring and April, too.

Nothing Gold Can Stay

Nature's first green is gold

Her hardest hue to hold.
Her early leaf's a flower;
But only so an hour.
Then leaf subsides to leaf.
So Eden sank to grief,
So dawn goes down to day.
Nothing gold can stay.

So read some poetry this month and share any that you enjoy!

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Neat

Albuquerque Conference, Part 2

This post is a continuation of the previous one. I just wanted to break them up into two parts because of length. As I mentioned in my previous post, the second speaker at the Autism/Asperger's Syndrome conference in Albuquerque was Sean Barron, who has written a couple of books, most recently "The Unwritten Rules of Social Relationships" with Dr. Temple Grandin. Mr. Barron is a news journalist in Ohio, probably in his 40's.

Mr. Barron began his talk by describing his life. He talked about how he was seemingly normal at birth, but became increasingly difficult and angry while unable to communicate. His parents were told then (in the 1970's) that they should institutionalize him but they chose instead to work with him and provide him with therapies and interactions with peers in the public school system. He was often teased and bullied as a kid because of his autism and inability to socialize. Mr. Barron describes how at around age 16 his family moved to California and that being in a new environment helped him to get away from the bullies and begin to understand his own autism. He took it upon himself to learn the social rules and taught himself how to interact with others. He said that by his early twenties, he had "healed" himself from autism, but didn't consider himself completely recovered. 

The second part of his talk was about his most recent book, "The Unwritten Rules of Social Relationships" that he wrote with Dr. Temple Grandin. In this section he describes how difficult it is for autistic people to interact socially with neuro-typical people because they don't know the "unspoken rules" of socialization such as turn-taking, eye contact, body language, and to not speak everything that comes into your mind because it may be inappropriate.

He discusses each rule independently, but I think they were pretty self-explanatory so I will list them here.  Of course, the book goes into much greater detail and with Dr. Grandin's perspective as well.

1. Rules are not absolute. They are situation-based and people-based.
2. Not everything is equally important in the grand scheme of things.
3. Everyone makes mistakes. It doesn't have to ruin your day.
4. Honesty is different than diplomacy.
5. Being polite is appropriate in any situation.
6. Not everyone who is nice to me is my friend.
7. People act differently in public than they do in private.
8. Know when you're turning people off.
9. "Fitting in" is often tied to looking and sounding like you fit in.
10. People are responsible for their own behaviors.

What I found interesting is that both Dr. Grandin and Mr. Barron talked about how important manners and being polite are and that no matter if a person has autism, they still need to be accountable for their own behaviors. I also liked how Mr. Barron talked about fitting in--that autistic people need to learn how neurotypical people behave and that they can imitate those behaviors to get along in society better. Even though those skills don't come naturally, they can be learned. One of the unwritten rules, knowing when you're turning people off, is very important because a person on the autism spectrum can talk nonstop about their special interest (like video games or Pokemon) and has no conversational reciprocity. Not everyone enjoys hearing about computers (for example) nonstop and it is important that a person on the spectrum learns how to interpret those unspoken cues from the person they're talking with.

All in all, the conference was great and I'm glad that my school district paid for me to go. Now I've got a few books to read that I'll add to my constantly-growing pile!

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Neat