Hey, It's Okay

I got this idea from Glamour magazine. You can link up any day of the week. All you have to do is make a list of what you're okay about. Simple! Please do not link up a post that has nothing to do with Hey, It's Okay. It's rude and I'll delete the link.

Hey, It's Okay....



....to have already shopped the Kohl's Black Friday sale since it's online.



....to be going out for actual Black Friday, but not super early. My daughter and I will do afternoon shopping.



....to plan on bringing out the Christmas stuff after Thanksgiving. I hope our tree is okay. It's sort of wedged behind a bunch of boxes.



....to be in charge of the green bean casserole, rolls, and deviled eggs for Thanksgiving. Oh, and we might bring another dessert. You can never have too many desserts on Thanksgiving.



....to think it's cool that Target has Buddy the Elf cereal!

Why Do Kids Constantly Lose Stuff?

It wasn't even a month into school when my daughter informed me that she lost her lunchbox.

"One minute it was there. The next?" She shrugged.

I told her to check lost & found.

"I did. It wasn't there."

I sighed.

She has a bad habit of losing things. Gloves. Hats. Sweatshirts.

You'd think she'd get better as she got older? Well. Ha. She started Middle School and has lost the following:

Her lunchbox

An umbrella

Gloves

Earphones

A water bottle

None are in the lost & found and I know this, because I also checked it. But I'm told when things get lost in Middle School, you'll probably never see them again.

She did get lucky with a sweatshirt she lost. She found it wadded up in the corner of the cafeteria.

"Good news!" she told me when she came home from school. "The sweatshirt has been found!"

"What about the lunchbox, the umbrella, and the earphones?" I asked. I immediately threw the sweatshirt in the wash because there was a smell.

Natalie gave me a guilty look. She recently got this hat, and we'll see if she keeps track of that.

People are all, "Well, punish the kids who lose stuff!" and I have. She's had her phone taken away. (By the way, she left her phone in class once. Luckily that was still there when she checked. Seriously. She was LUCKY on that one.)

She also had to do extra chores.

"I feel this is sort of mean," Natalie said as she mopped the floor.

"I feel that losing things that I pay for is mean," I answered.

I ranted about this on Facebook, and I find she's not the only kid who constantly loses things. Granted, there are some parents who are all, "Well, my child appreciates what they have and treat them well," and I'm like, "Great for you, Susan."

Anyway, if Natalie loses stuff, I won't always replace them. For example, her gloves. Luckily she had a pair from last year, but if she loses those, she'll deal with cold fingers.

I haven't replaced her lunchbox so she's been bringing her meal in a paper bag, which she says she actually prefers. "Now I don't have the stress about worrying about a lunchbox!"

Her earphones were only $4.99 from Walmart, because I'm not stupid enough to let her bring anything of value to school. (Her phone being the exception.) Have I replaced those? Nope. But she had an old pair that she's been using. It only works on one side, but sorry kid. If she wants a better pair, she can save her allowance.

She has to use an umbrella with Elsa on it since she lost my good one. She is pretty embarrassed. "You expect me to use something I used in third grade?"

"Yup," I answered, passing her the umbrella.

So far she hasn't lost anything in one week. Progress! Maybe?

And yes, she has left her homework at home and no, I haven't brought that to the school because she has to learn to be better organized. I can't baby her even though it's my instinct. She has to learn. Somehow.

I will point out that my son, who is 16, rarely loses his stuff. But he has autism, so he can be particular about his personal belongings.



So what about your kid? Do they lose things? Or if you don't have kids, did you lose things?

What To Eat At Epcot's Food & Wine Festival

I love to eat. It's one of my favorite things to do. I knew I would want to check out the Food & Wine Festival when we were in Walt Disney World.

It's held in Epcot

Now, I'm not big on wine. I know, it shocks a lot of people. It's just not for me. But food? Yes.

Basically you walk to different stalls set up that represent a different country. I told my kids we would be "walking around the world" and we could try whatever caught our fancy.

The first thing was a filet mignon from Canada. My son immediately started to dig in.

"Wait!" I yelped. "I need to take a picture!"

We also got the beer cheddar cheese soup with the pretzel bread.

Both were amazing. And I totally forgot to take a photo of the menu. We were just so excited to eat. I will say that I wish the filet mignon was easier to cut though. Plastic cutlery makes it tricky. But the flavor was totally there.

Then we headed to France.

Here's the menu:

We decided to get the Creme Brulee. I dared my kids to try the Croissant aux Escargots and they were like, "Um, no."

The Creme Brulee? Was spectacular.

And yes, there was raspberry inside. My son didn't like it because he's picky about desserts, so my daughter and I shared.

The area in France is so beautiful by the way.

We can't go to France and NOT stop at the Boulangerie. We got the Croque Monsieur I think it was. And then the macaron.

The World Showcase is so beautiful. It's relaxing when there aren't a billion and five people walking around. But we went when it wasn't crazy busy. I recommend a weekday if possible.

We stopped off at Belgium and decided to try a waffle. Now, I used to live in Belgium so I know real Belgian waffles are supposed to have sugar crystals.

This did not. It was just a regular waffle covered in chocolate sauce and whipped cream. Boring. It needed the sugar crystals.

Natalie loves Japan, so she was excited to eat there. We decided on the Teriyaki Chicken Bun.

It was so neat to look at. And yes, it was delicious.

If you want to try lots of different foods, I recommend sharing with people. Then your stomach doesn't fill as quickly and you can sample more things. I would normally just buy one of something and we'd split it. Granted, things can get tricky when there's a teenage boy in the mix who can finish off each sample in two bites.

By the way, the store in Japan is one of my daughter's favorites.

"It's so kawaii!" She wanted all this Gudetama stuff to go with her backpack that she got for her birthday. (We found it at Think Geek!) I let her pick out ONE thing.

I love my pasta which is why the Keto diet will NEVER be for me, so I was excited to head to Italy.

We went for the Mezzi Rigatoni.

This was amazing. I was starting to get full, but if I wasn't, I'd have bought one for myself. It had such an incredible flavor. If I weren't so lazy, I'd learn to make it on my own. But alas.


Finally, we went for the Croissant Sprinkle Donut at the stand in front of Test Track. I forgot to take a photo of the menu here, but I think it was called Taste Tracks, and it was all sweet stuff.

You wouldn't think that small portions could fill you up quickly, but they can! Even when you share. I wanted to try more but my stomach was done. Also, I was running low on funds. Hence my shirt. (We also did Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party that day.)

I hope to return to the Food & Wine Festival one day. There's so much more I want to try. And I need that pasta again.

Have you ever been to the Food & Wine Festival? If so, what was your favorite dish?