So How Does "Work Ethic" Emerge?

A child's work ethic ALWAYS comes from his or her parents. A work ethic develops from a child's perception of the good that his parents are achieving through work. A parent's attitude toward work should help build a child's ethic that's cheerful, responsible, and achievement driven.

As we all know, work can have a love/hate relationship with most people, and children know that pain by watching it sting mom and dad on a daily basis, but work is more than the love /hate relationship, and children should see that work provides an identity that stays with a person most of his or her life.

The achievement of work makes a person happy, and children should constantly see that achievement no matter the drudgery, the load, the hatefulness of the work - because drudgery has no meaning for very young children. They see only a dispirited parent. Happiness and achievement can be seen too, on the face...it's just the opposite of dispirited. Children should see their parents continuing to do the work with cheer and positivism even in the rough times.

Personality comes into play with the whole notion of work. Some people love to work. Some enjoy it to a point. Some people try to escape work at any cost. Some people refuse to work at all and mostly they learn these things at home. Some of it's humorous and some is tragic, but we've all known those we love to work with and those we want to run from.

Some people love work as a social entity. When you really look at what they accomplish, it's not very much. They go to work to be around other people, to have companionship. The work is not important nor consistent nor even gratifying. This is the "social worker."

Then there is the person who takes on all kinds of projects with great gusto and ends up foisting the responsibility of those projects on others or worse drops the ball half way through and ignores the repercussions. We'll call this one "The enthusiast."

Then there is the person who only takes on the work that is absolutely demanded of him or her, and does the absolute minimalist amount because when all is said and told, this person is always in the bathroom when work is assigned; always on the phone during the job, always busy with anything and everything he or she can think of so others have to always chip in to get the job done around her and in spite of her. We could dub this one "The minimalist."

There is the enormous mess maker with all the great intentions in the world who only manages to waste time, materials and everyone's patience. We could call this one the "Kettle" after Ma and Pa Kettle.

There is the silent independent worker who silently does his or her work without thought to anyone or anything besides getting at least part of the job done, and those who do part of the work leaving most of it because "they didn't know..." and can't communicate to find out.

And we have all known someone who fits these worthy titles. The question is, how did they get to be "titled?" It all begins with watching parents and discerning a work ethic that they come to understand that seems to be acceptable.

The "Social Worker" probably had parents who refused to allow the child to actually do anything. This child grew up "hands off" because mom or dad could do it better, wanted complete control and all the power. In other words, the child wasn't needed , and so, the child grows into adulthood with the idea that they are never really needed, and therefore, their presence is most social. Involving children in work fosters the idea that a person's presence is not only wanted, but needed. "I need you" is not something that should be avoided by adults especially toward children.

The enthusiast came from a work ethic that dabbled, was distracted, and never really finished anything. Parents who dabble in multiple activities and then lose interest often find that their children follow suit - the laundry half done, dishes always in the sink, the floor half swept, beds partially made, toys somewhat picked up, projects everywhere and a garden always in the making. This half done example entitles children who are developing an emerging work ethic to think that half done is enough...now apply that to an education, a job, a home or anything that needs completion. A work ethic that sees jobs through to completion demonstrates to children that the whole job is important - even the small ones. Completion demonstrates responsibility.

The minimalist grew up with stingy parents who probably had little and gave less. A minimalist has a small heart. I remember a line in a film I watched years ago when a poor man looked at another and said, "Your a little man. It's not because you are short in stature, but because you have such a tiny heart." A work ethic based on how little I have to offer the job, my associates and myself is a poor employee because they can't be trusted by the other staff. You can't teach someone generosity no matter how hard you try. The minimalist will always take and never give back. Children in a minimalist's family will be as stingy as their parents.

The Kettles come from a work ethic that balances between the minimalist and the enthusiast. It's just chaos at everyone's expense. Children who grow up in chaos have a long way to go to re-order their lives. Chaos begets chaos, and that's the tragedy of it.

And families who don't communicate, don't because it's just a lot easier when you don't. If I don't say anything, neither will you, and that will be an end to it...work, project, job, you...

On the positive side, there are those who love to work, love to achieve, accomplish and attain great things through work. The personality who loves the challenge of a job will engage in every human attribute they can in order to make the task at hand "work!"

At once the stage is set for work. There is solid positive communication so that others understand the work at hand. There is order maintained at every level, every step so that the work continues at a good pace while it serves the job and the other workers. Chaos is nipped in the bud, and the social workers are asked to take their lack of intentions elsewhere. There is generosity throughout the job, there is help, give and take, so that each worker can excel at what he or she is doing without losing momentum or feeling out of the loop.

If this very positive stage was viewed by children, children would see how work should be aimed at achievement and how the joy that comes from jobs well done can be owned.

It's not exactly "luck" that allows a person to do the work they like; mostly, it's a matter of hard work as a young student, then an older student and then as a fully engaged young adult. Working successfully toward a goal from youth allows someone the privilege of doing the work they want to do. It's called "earned," and this concept of "earned" is a must for dinner time discussion and those quiet times when children are really listening.

So if you want to know what your child is seeing, look in the mirror and ask yourself some of those scary questions...then do what needs to be done to give your child the best vantage point you can about work because when he grows up, he's going to be just like you!

Monday's Tattler

A short week this week. We will be in school on Monday and Tuesday and off on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday for Spring Break.

We will do as much schooling as we can this week depending on how many children are out.

It's time to get your summer forms in now. If your child will be at the GS this summer, I need your summer form. If you don't have one, let me know, and I will give you another.

Have a great week!

Clearing out Sunday...

Sundays are work days for Terry and me. We always get up early...6:00 ish, and dress and go off to early Mass because we still believe. We are eternally grateful to God for all that He has given us, and we work hard to thank Him with everything we do. God's generosity and six days of work have meant the whole world to us, and we return the blessings with work of our own.

I know that Sundays are supposed to be a day of rest...they are unless you own your own business. We get our rest every evening when we spend several hours together doing what we want. It's a workable trade off. Besides, I think every day is Sunday... just as every day is Friday...you really can't have Sunday without Friday...

So Sunday becomes a day of clearing out to get ready for the week. I scramble off to the grocery store and lug tons of groceries back to school, and Terry brings them inside, and I put them away after I clear out the refrigerators and the kitchen of last week's leavings. Terry washes the floors and cleans the bathrooms, and after I've put all the food away in a clean kitchen, I work on the zoo room and clear away a lot of old bedding.

At home, we clean off desks, clear out all the receipts, I clean my own kitchen and get ready for a weeks new meals.

This weekend I cleared away a lot of the winter's garden debris. I cleaned out my email bank, my stack of catalogs, newspaper fliers from last week etc. I bought garden dirt and pots to work on the planting of our veggies. I organized the kitchen collected recipes and copied a few to cards for a changing cooking team.

Clearing away the old and getting ready for what is on the horizon is a really nice way to spend a Sunday. It's a kind of renewal about life and work and change. I'm a firm believer in always being ready for whatever, and you can't really do that unless you keep chipping away at the clutter.

The calendar is my friend, not my enemy most of the time. The clock is also my friend and not my enemy when I'm prepared for now as now unfolds. Being able to enjoy life - even Sundays filled with work - is not a challenge when you think ahead and do what needs to be done today today.

So on this pleasant Sunday...the work is finally done, and now it's time to take a little stroll. Blessings today on all of you who are working or not.

Monday's Tattler

A great big warm and wonderful congratulations to the children for a super play production. It was such a wonderful success. It's always a relief when it's done, but it's such a joy to do...especially on Play Day! I think I heard every line...

This week, it's art week at school. We are giving art lessons to the children. It's a follow the instructions and learn to use materials. We do this a lot, but it needs some reinforcing.

Back to regular classes this week.

Putting the garden together, and I believe Miss Lisa is going to create something really wonderful in her room...

Giant ham on the food agenda, a new marble cake, a new pulled beef perhaps if a beast can be purchased...some Alfredo, some homemade chicken nuggets and a to die for calzone.

It's going to be warm...short sleeves and shorts are a must...no stocking, leggins or boots please!

Have a super marvelous week!

The Classic Yellow Cake...

Micro two sticks of real butter for about 20 seconds.

Beat 1 3/4 cups sugar into the butter at high speed for about five minutes.

Beat in four large eggs and a tablespoon of vanilla or flavoring of choice - try Kahlua or bourbon or even maple. Try adding ground coffee at this point.

In another bowl, whisk 3 cups of flour and a tablespoon of baking powder and a 1/2 teaspoon of salt.

With your mixer on low, or with a wooden spoon, add 1/3 of your flour mix to the butter mix.

Beat in 3/4 cup of either buttermilk or plain yogurt.

Add 1/3 more flour; 3/4 cup more buttermilk or yogurt and then the rest of the flour until just barely combined.

Bake at 350 until done.

Everyone should know how to make a wonderful cake. Now...if you want chocolate, mix 1/2 cup cocoa in 6 tablespoons very hot water and add at the end.

Frosting is simple: in a food processor, process 1 stick butter and 4 cups of powdered sugar, add whatever flavoring you want. Add a tablespoon of milk, coffee, or orange juice or jam to make a flavored frosting. Too thick? Add more liquid...too runny? Add more sugar.

Have a great Sunday!

Is Someone Kidding Here?

"Boneless lean beef trimmings" are shown before packaging. The debate over "pink slime" in chopped beef is hitting critical mass. The term, adopted by opponents of "lean finely textured beef," describes the processed trimmings cleansed with ammonia and commonly mixed into ground meat. Federal regulators say it meets standards for food safety.

—Beef Products Inc. via AP

Comment: I find this totally unacceptable, but understandable coming from the government. As the food purchaser for my school, I spend $.50 per meal per student and we eat chopped sirloin which I get from the butcher. I wouldn't feed this pink slime to my barn cats. It just goes to show that the purchasers for school lunches just don't care. It CAN be done and done well and it costs a whole lot less than what the student is paying. SHAME!

By Nirvi Shah

Premium article access courtesy of Edweek.org.

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Schools that get their ground beef from the federal government will now have the option of buying it with or without a product that has been dubbed “pink slime.”

Never have schools known whether the ground beef procured by the U.S. Department of Agriculture for use in school lunches contained the ingredient, known in the food industry as “Lean Finely Textured Beef.”

Lean finely textured beef is a “product derived from beef-fat trimmings,” researchers at Iowa State University wrote in a report about its use in processed meat. They add that “while it is high in total protein, the LFTB contains more serum and connective-tissue proteins and less myofibrillar proteins than muscle meat.” Since it’s not made from muscle, it isn’t considered meat by some food experts.

In addition, the product is treated with ammonium hydroxide to kill some strains of E. coli and salmonella bacteria, although a story in The New York Times three years ago raised questions about the effectiveness of ammonia in curbing the spread of E. coli and salmonella.

In a statement issued today, the USDA said that although the product is safe to eat, “due to customer demand, the department will be adjusting procurement specifications for the next school year so schools can have additional options in procuring ground-beef products. USDA will provide schools with a choice to order product either with or without Lean Finely Textured Beef.”

Petition Drive

This isn’t the first time the product has come under fire, but fresh concerns about pink slime were raised last week, after The Daily newspaper published a story in which former USDA food inspectors discussed a 2002 visit to a production facility run by South Dakota-based Beef Products Inc., which makes lean finely textured beef. Describing what he saw, microbiologist Gerald Zirnstein told The Daily he did not “consider the stuff to be ground beef.”

Seizing on that story, children’s food blogger and lawyer Bettina Siegal of Houston started an online petition asking the USDA to stop using ground beef containing pink slime in the National School Lunch Program. In a little more than a week, the petition had collected more than a quarter of a million signatures.

“This is a huge, huge moment for consumers,” Sarah Ryan, a campaigner withChange.org, the site where Ms. Siegal posted her petition, said of the USDA’s action today. “The USDA is such a huge bureaucracy. It’s hard to make a change.”

Since the recent concerns were raised. Some school districts have gotten calls from parents about the contents of beef products served in school lunches.

One district in California posted information on its website with a response from its beef vendor, which said it does not sell the district meat made with LFTB.

Some federal lawmakers have also chimed in with letters to the USDA.

“Students enrolled in the school lunch program have little to no choice over what they eat and should not be forced to consume questionable meat,” wrote U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez, a Democrat from New Jersey. “The leftover scraps are treated with ammonia because they come from parts of the cow, often the hide, with high exposure to fecal matter. Despite the addition of ammonia, there have been dozens of cases of pathogens infecting the treated mixture. These troubling reports cast doubt on the USDA’s assertion that this process is perfectly safe.”

The meat product isn’t limited to school lunches. The ingredient has been used for years in beef products, including those sold in grocery stores and served by some restaurants.

In defense of lean finely textured beef, Beef Products Inc. has launched a new website,pinkslimeisamyth.com. It includes endorsements about the quality and safety of the product from former U.S. secretaries of agriculture, professors, and consumer watchdogs.

Questions remain about what exactly the USDA’s action means for schools, Ms. Ryan said.

In exchange for having the option of beef products that don’t contain lean finely textured beef, schools could end up paying to get meat processed without it for patties or other items.

Available USDA foods range from almonds to catfish to sunflower-seed butter. School district food directors can choose from among those items, based on an annual allowance set by the USDA. Meat is one of food-service directors’ top choices because it is expensive and can quickly eat up limited budgets. Schools pay for the rest of the food served in school breakfasts and lunches.Only about 20 percent of the food served in school lunches is procured through the USDA Foods program, formerly called the commodities program. Schools get the items at no cost, although some fees may be charged for storage or distribution of the items.

Although beef is a popular item, it’s unclear how much of the beef served in school meals contains lean finely textured beef. Of the nearly 112 million pounds of ground beef contracted for the school lunch program, 7 million pounds, or about 6.5 percent, are made by Beef Products Inc., the USDA said. USDA rules allow no more than 15 percent of a student’s ground-beef dish to be made of the company’s lean finely textured beef.

Tuesday's Teacher

How Eating At Home Can Save Your Life by Mark Hyman, MD

The slow insidious displacement of home cooked and communally shared family meals by the industrial food system has fattened our nation and weakened our family ties. In 1900, 2 percent of meals were eaten outside the home. In 2010, 50 percent were eaten away from home and one in five breakfasts is from McDonald's. Most family meals happen about three times a week, last less than 20 minutes and are spent watching television or texting while each family member eats a different microwaved "food." More meals are eaten in the minivan than the kitchen.

Research shows that children who have regular meals with their parents do better in every way, from better grades, to healthier relationships, to staying out of trouble. They are 42 percent less likely to drink, 50 percent less likely to smoke and 66 percent less like to smoke marijuana. Regular family dinners protect girls from bulimia, anorexia, and diet pills. Family dinners also reduce the incidence of childhood obesity. In a study on household routines and obesity in U.S. preschool-aged children, it was shown that kids as young as four have a lower risk of obesity if they eat regular family dinners, have enough sleep, and don't watch TV on weekdays.

We complain of not having enough time to cook, but Americans spend more time watching cooking on the Food Network than actually preparing their own meals. In his series, "Food Revolution," Jamie Oliver showed us how we have raised a generation of Americans who can't recognize a single vegetable or fruit, and don't know how to cook.

Family dinner has been hijacked by the food industry. The transformations of the American home and meal outlined above did not happen by accident. Broccoli, peaches, almonds, kidney beans and other whole foods don't need a food ingredient label or bar code, but for some reason these foods -- the foods we co-evolved with over millennia -- had to be "improved" by Food Science. As a result, the processed-food industry and industrial agriculture has changed our diet, decade by decade, not by accident but by intention.

That we need nutritionists and doctors to teach us how to eat is a sad reflection of the state of society. These are things our grandparents knew without thinking twice about them. What foods to eat, how to prepare them, and an understanding of why you should share them in family and community have been embedded in cultural traditions since the dawn of human society.

One hundred years ago all we ate was local, organic food; grass-fed, real, whole food. There were no fast-food restaurants, there was no junk food, there was no frozen food -- there was just what your mother or grandmother made. Most meals were eaten at home. In the modern age that tradition, that knowledge, is being lost.

The sustainability of our planet, our health, and our food supply are inextricably linked. The ecology of eating -- the importance of what you put on your fork -- has never been more critical to our survival as a nation or as a species. The earth will survive our self-destruction. But we may not.

Common sense and scientific research lead us to the conclusion that if we want healthy bodies we must put the right raw materials in them: real; whole, local; fresh; unadulterated; unprocessed; and chemical-, hormone- and antibiotic-free food. There is no role for foreign molecules such as trans fats and high-fructose corn syrup, or for industrially developed and processed food that interferes with our biology at every level.

That is why I believe the most important and the most powerful tool you have to change your health and the world is your fork. Imagine an experiment -- let's call it a celebration: We call upon the people of the world to join together and celebrate food for one week. For one week or even one day, we all eat breakfast and dinner at home with our families or friends. For one week we all eat only real, whole, fresh food. Imagine for a moment the power of the fork to change the world.

The extraordinary thing is that we have the ability to move large corporations and create social change by our collective choices. We can reclaim the family dinner, reviving and renewing it. Doing so will help us learn how to find and prepare real food quickly and simply, teach our children by example how to connect, build security, safety and social skills, meal after meal, day after day, year after year.

Here are some tips that will help you take back the family dinner in your home starting today.

Reclaim Your Kitchen

Throw away any foods with high fructose corn syrup, hydrogenated fats or sugar or fat as the first or second ingredient on the label. Fill your shelves with real fresh, whole, local foods when possible. And join a community support agriculture network to get a cheaper supply of fresh vegetables weekly or frequent farmers markets.

Reinstate the Family Dinner

Read Laurie David's "The Family Dinner".

She suggests the following guidelines: Make a set dinnertime, no phones or texting during dinner, everyone eats the same meal, no television, only filtered or tap water, invite friends and family, everyone clean up together.

No matter how modest the meal, create a special place to sit down together, and set the table with care and respect. Savor the ritual of the table. Mealtime is a time for empathy and generosity, a time to nourish and communicate.

You can make this a family activity, and it does not need to take a ton of time. Keep meals quick and simple.

This is the most nutritious, tastiest, environmentally friendly food you will ever eat.

Conserve, Compost and Recycle

Bring your own shopping bags to the market, recycle your paper, cans, bottles and plastic and start a compost bucket (and find where in your community you can share you goodies).

Invest in Food

We should treat it that way. Americans currently spend less than10 percent of their income on food, while most European's spend about 20 percent of their income on food. We will be more nourished by good food than by more stuff. And we will save ourselves much money and costs over our lifetime.

Mark Hyman, M.D. is a practicing physician, founder of The UltraWellness Center , a four-time New York Times bestselling author , and an international leader in the field of Functional Medicine . You can follow him on Twitter , connect with him on LinkedIn , watch his videos onYouTube , become a fan on Facebook , and subscribe to his newsletter .

Monday's Tattler

This is play week! This week on Friday, we will perform our Spring Play! The play is at 2:00 and refreshments are served after. Please plan to bring a treat to share.

The children have worked very hard on our play. We are a group activity place, and this group activity helps children find a voice, experiment in make believe and work with other children to build a kind of adventure that is unmatched by anything else they do.

This year, we have had an especially young group. They are doing a miraculous job of learning and acting. It will be blocked this week, and children will learn their final parts -- where to stand and how loud to shout!

We will dismiss after refreshments are served.

Your child will be costumed by the school.

Please plan to be at school by 1:50 so that you will not disturb the play in progress.

Please remember that we are a very little school, and our space is limited. Every child must have an attending adult.

If you have any questions, please ask a teacher.

It will be much warmer this week. Please DO NOT send children in boots.

We are slowly putting in our garden in the back of the school. We are also looking for homes for some of our wild cats. If you are looking for a pet, please let us know. They have been neutered.

Have a spectacular week!

Hamburger Buns...

I really hate buying hamburger buns. They are expensive and even the whole wheat ones are too "store bought" to really interest someone who has a broader bread sense. Store "boughts" have a lot of sugar and there is too much "food" when all is said and done. When you buy hamburger buns, you get eight, so what do you do with the other six? Normally, they sit in my fridge for weeks...and that's a bit frightening...

So I have traveled the Internet week after week to try to discover a really good hamburger bun recipe that would make only two buns at a time...do you know how impossible that is? I've made several recipes and have ended up with more food than I wanted while having so much left over, all of them were a complete disaster.

Then, one evening when I really wanted a nice sirloin burger with onions and mushrooms and green peppers, I sighed a heavy sigh about not having anything good to eat this delicious beast on, and the lightbulb went on in my head!

I quickly made a very small batch of pizza dough. (Warm the bowl, dissolve a 1/2 teaspoon of yeast into a 1/2 cup of warm water, add a pinch of sugar; let stand for five minutes; add a pinch of salt, a cup of flour and a little more until not sticky when you stir) And presto I had enough dough for exactly two hamburgers! I rolled out the dough, cut it with my hamburger press and baked four thin round crusts at 350 degrees for about six minutes and these little guys were just right and they were hot and ready by the time the hamburgers were cooked!

Then next time I made them, I used a big fist of Parmesan and some Chicago Steak seasoning right in the dough. I can imagine using any cheese, seasoning or ground veggie in the pizza dough to give you exactly the flavor you want - dill seasoning, perchance?

I'm thinking some bacon and cheddar and those canned friend onions would be exceptional!

Last night, I made the little pizza rounds and put some chili and cheese on the tops and baked them full, and served franks on them which was really fun and easy. It was a giant sandwich like creature...

Making pizza dough is a snap and takes no time at all. If you let your "sponge" develop in the warm water until it is truly a sponge...about five minutes...and you let your dough rest for another five minutes, you'll have a dough you can use for any number of things...calzones, inside out pizza, regular pizza, buns, tortilla like shells...the sky is the limit.

Something for Friday...

I got this from Vivian Ewalefo

What do you think? It's a workout by Sara Haley. Her bio info is published at the end.

12 moves in 20 minutes for 20lbs in 2012

Each exercise is performed 20 times and some require one set of 12 lb. free weights. Throw exercises, with the exception of the 2012 Hustle warm-up, into a hat and pull them out one by one to set the order of your workout for the day. Perform each exercise 20 times in succession, taking breaks for water and breathing whenever needed. You may have to work up to 20 reps of each, as well as work up to finishing the program in less than 20 minutes. Use the modifications and challenges as needed.

1. 2012 Hustle: Always begin with this exercise as a warm-up. Part 1: Alternate lifting your knees to your chest 4 times (right, left, right, left). Part 2: Alternate kicking your butt 4 times (like a hamstring curl). Make sure to use your arms like you are really running. Repeat entire sequence 20 times. 2012 Benefit: By lifting your legs high, your hips and hamstrings will mobilize and your core will activate. As you kick your butt, your quads dynamically stretch as you reach your heel towards your butt. As you pick up your pace, you’ll get your heart rate up and your body ready to work.

2. Total Body Make-Over: Part 1: Begin by squatting with hands on the floor in front of you. Part 2: Jump your feet back to a push up position and simultaneously lower your chest to the floor. Part 3: Using your arms to push up, return to squat position. Part 4: Jump up and clap your hands together. Repeat 20 times. Modification(s): a) Walk feet out and in, instead of jumping back and forth. b) Hold the top of a push up, instead of letting your chest hit the floor. c) Reach up instead of jumping. Challenge: As you jump up, simultaneously kiss your feet together and clap your hands. 2012 Benefit: Full body workout that will get your heart rate up quickly.

3. Chop Away: Part 1: Holding one weight with your feet shoulder width apart, pick up your right toes and your left heel to rotate all the way to the right. As you rotate, bring your free weight up to form a diagonal line from your shoulders. Part 2:In one motion swing it down over your left leg as you rotate into a lunge. Repeat ten times and then repeat ten times to the other side. Modification(s): Take away the free weight and instead clasp your hands together with straight arms. Challenge(s): After you rotate up, squeeze your butt to lift your back leg up off the floor. 2012 Benefit: Full body workout that targets the obliques - one of the best belly blasters around!

4. Froggie: Part 1: Rotate your hips out with your knees tracking over your toes, and squat as far to the floor as you can, putting your hands on the floor in front of you. Part 2: Push up from the floor, jumping up in the air. Land with bent knees to protect the joints and go back into your squat to prepare for the next jump. Repeat 20 times with little to no stop in between. Modification(s): a) Until you gain flexibility, put your hands on your thighs instead of the floor. b) Reach up instead of jumping. Challenge(s): On each jump perform a 180 degree turn. After 10 times rotate the opposite direction. 2012 Benefit: Excellent cardio exercise that targets the legs and butt, and opens up the hips.

5. Plank, Jack & Row: Part 1: Hold a 12 pound weight in each hand and begin in a plank (top of a push up) with the feet wide. Part 2: Soften the knees and squeeze the legs together (like a jumping jack). Part 3: Jump back out to your wide plank. Part 4: Row one weight to your rib cage, keeping your hips square to the floor. Repeat jack and then row on the other side. Repeat 20 times (10 on each side). Modification(s): Execute entire combination on all fours with no Jack. Challenge(s): Repeat 12 jacks in a row, followed by 12 rows on the right, 12 jacks, and 12 rows on the left. 2012 Benefit: Better than any crunches you could ever do, plank will help define your abs and keep your entire core strong. The jack tests the stability of your plank, especially your hips and back so work to keep your hips facing the floor and your shoulder blades squeezing together. The row will also challenge your stability as it strengthens and sculpts your back and shoulders.

6. Shuffle It Off: Part 1 & 2: Staying on the balls of the feet, quickly step and touch your feet together all the way to the right (Ideally give yourself fifteen feet). Shuffle back to the left. This is one rep. Repeat 20 times. Modification(s): Shorten the distance or slow down. Challenge(s): a) Bend your knees and get closer to the floor. b) Touch the floor once you shuffle all the way to the right and again once you go back all the way to the left. c) Hold one free weight at chest level. 2012 Benefit: Targets the inner and outer thighs, gets your heart rate up, and burns your 2011 calories away.

7. Dip ‘N Walk: Take tricep dips to a new level in 2012. Part 1: Sit with your hands behind your butt and feet right under your knees, with your toes lifted off the floor. Hold on to your free weights (to help keep wrists comfortable and stable) and lift your butt up off the floor. Part 2: Lower your body down by bending at the elbow working the triceps. Part 3 & 4: After you push back up, keep your arms straight and walk your feet out and in (right, left, right, left). Lower back down into your dip. Repeat ten times leading with the right leg and then ten times leading with the left. Modification(s): Perform tricep dip without the walk. Challenge(s): Elevate your body on a chair or table and walk out and in when you lower down AND when you push up. 2012 Benefit: Get rid of flabby arms once and for all as you challenge your core, glutes and hamstrings all at the same time.

8. Speed Skaters: Part 1: Begin with one leg crossed behind the other. Reach your opposite arm across towards the supporting leg. Part 2: Just like a professional speed-skater, hop laterally (side to side) and cross back with the opposite leg. One rep equals one hop to the right and one hop to the left. Repeat 20 times quickly. Modification(s): a) Rather than hopping side to side, slide so the feet stay close to the floor. b) Tap the leg down rather than balancing on one leg. Challenge(s): a) Land on one leg with the opposite foot crossing back but not touching the floor. b) Stay low and try to touch the floor with the reaching arm. 2012 Benefit: As you work for speed, it becomes a great cardio exercise. Targets the “saddlebag” area that is so hard to get rid of - works outer thighs, hips, glutes and abs all at the same time.

9. Tri Push ‘N Plank: Part 1: Begin in the top of a pushup position with your hands directly underneath your shoulders. Part 2: Lower yourself down keeping your elbows close to your sides to work the triceps and chest. Part 3: As you return rotate your body completely to one side and stack your feet into a side plank. Hold for a count of two before returning center. Push up again and rotate to the opposite side. Repeat 20 times (10 on each side). Modification(s): a) Perform pushup with knees on floor. b) When you rotate to side plank cross your top leg behind the front leg.Challenge(s): a) As you push up slowly count to four. b) In Side Plank lift the top leg up. 2012 Benefit: To perform a successful pushup and side Plank (let alone twenty), your entire body has to stay tight so you actually end up working every muscle in your body. Additionally, by keeping the elbows in tight you work the triceps more than a regular pushup, while finally getting rid of those turkey arms.

10. Core Control: Part 1: Begin on all fours with your left leg extended back and your right hand behind your head. Part 2: Round your back to the ceiling and slowly bring your opposing knee and elbow to meet into the center of your body. Repeat 10 times and then 10 times on the other side. Modification(s): Keep both hands on the floor and just extend the leg. Challenge(s): As you extend back out, lift the leg and rotate your torso to your right. 2012 Benefit: Strengthen and lengthen your spine and you work your entire core, especially the neglected lower back.

11. Booty Burn (Squat ‘N Curtsey): Part 1: Holding one weight at chest level, start with your legs shoulder width apart. Squat down with your chest lifted and weight in your heels. Come up quickly so your legs straighten to get full hip extension. Part 2: Cross your right leg behind your left (enough so you see your right foot on the other side) and lunge down, lowering your weight to the floor. Bicep curl the weight to your chest as you stand back up. Repeat 10 times and then repeat on the other side. Modification(s): Get rid of the weight and place your hands on your hips. Challenge(s): Add a balance challenge by lifting moving knee up to attach at inner thigh in between each squat and lunge, and/or add a shoulder press as the knee lifts up. 2012 Benefit: By combining these two leg exercises together you’ll tone your entire lower body. You’ll hit up your glutes, quads and hamstrings with the squat and target your outer and inner thighs with the curtsey (remember to squeeze those inner thighs tight as you curtsey lunge).

12. Picture Perfect Bicycles: Love to work those abs? Part 1: Lying on your back, with your hands behind your head, pull your knees into your chest and lift your shoulders up off the floor. Part 2: As you slowly extend one leg out, rotate your torso to the opposite leg. After you rotate, think of lifting up even higher and holding for a few seconds. Repeat on the other side. Repeat 20 times (10 on each side). Modification(s): Keep the extended leg on more of an angle. Challenge(s): Lift your shoulders even higher off the floor, and lower the extended leg closer to the floor. 2012 Benefit: Strengthen your abs and sculpt your love handles away!

About Sara Haley

Sara Haley is a certified trainer and instructor through the American Council on Exercise (ACE) and the Aerobics and Fitness Association of America (AFAA), as well as a member of the American Pregnancy Association (APA). Specializing in prenatal fitness, functional training and dance methodology, Sara has over twenty years of dance and fitness training, and has been a Reebok Global Master Trainer since 2008.

Time Off...

Well...we WERE going to go away for a couple of days...but every time I thought about taking time off, I remembered how much needs to be done right here...and the old balance of work then play which is like the essence of my life, becomes so dramatically lopsided, it destroys any real delight in leaving town...even for the beach.

So...this morning Terry and I dragged ourselves upstairs to our bedroom of many years and dug out what has become a storehouse for kids moved away; stuffed toys I can't part with; computer collectibles; the books that don't fit anywhere else; travel equipment; furniture that is in need of mending; exercise and gym equipment; pictures and frames without walls...well you get the idea.

Actually it's been like that for twenty years, so today, when we started going through this amazing pile of junk, it was no wonder a car load went to M Teresa's and another pile was created for my grandson that was once his father's; and books were moved downstairs, pictures were stacked for later examination...and I started to think about what you save and pitch as the kids get older and move away.

I have terrible trouble throwing away old friends...those are stuffed toys that were once so treasured by one of the little "houseselves." If it has a face on it, I usually give it to someone else to give away, because I'm a nut job and can't do it myself. There is something really odd and beautiful and emotionally gripping about the worn face of a doll or stuffed toy. Personally, I have all my stuffed toys from my own childhood, and as I get older their faces bring me a lot of joy, soooo I keep them.

Today, I went through a very deep closet whose contents belonged to my son. I found his boyhood stamp collection; his boy scout camping gear, prizes, awards and regalia. I found a hundred books stacked and in boxes. I found funny old clothes he used to wear. I found pictures and other keepsakes and games that brought all those years back.

I found the college books that belonged to my eldest daughter and among those books were shoes and trinkets...more memories. And memories are sweet. Yes, they are gone now, and living their lives with their own families, and that's the way it's supposed to be.

I found a lot of the wooden dressed character dolls I made for the younger children...Molly and Anne, and I held them back to look at later. They are made of clothespins carefully cut and wired together and dressed complete with bloomers, aprons, hats, dresses, and all decorated with lace and beds.

Older kids are funny about that stuff...they don't want to pitch it themselves, but they sure don't want to drag it home. How often we think to save things for our children's children...and how often they don't want it, and maybe that's a good and independent thing. Things really don't last; they grow old like we do...

So now that the clutter is mostly cleaned out of the closets, it's time to create a new room. Luckily, it's a big spacious room with hardwood floors and a lot of dark cabinetry at one end. Going to paint it a dark cherry color with driftwood appointments...because that will give me something to do at the river...lots to do...lots to do...tables to be made...blinds out of slender washed branches...drawer pulls of washed wooden knots...lots to do...

It's important to let go of children so they can go live their lives...but at the same time, it's important to have your own life and fill it with all the things you wanted to do as a young mom and couldn't because all your time and energy needed to be spent on your children. It's important to do a job you like that has growth and also creates memories you can grow old with.

So for a couple of days, it's time to clean and paint and re-create. Not recreate, but re-create. No, I didn't go to Florida; I stayed home and worked, and you could say, poor Judy, but Judy has a real life working every day, so these things like rooms and collecting driftwood too often get pushed to the sidelines...except for today... when it was tons of fun.

This is hoping that everyone who reads this will enjoy every part of his or her life...and will in turn teach their children to do the same. Life doesn't end when your children walk out the door...that's just part of the great story you build every day. Enjoy every day...