Flights of Fantasy

Healthy Food for On-the-Go Families

Posted on September 14, 2021 by Debbie

When I was working full time, I had a couple of go-to recipes that kept our household running smoothly: mason jar salads and overnight oats! Truth be told, the overnight oats are still a staple in our household 😀

Since neither of these recipes originated with me, I’ll give you links to a couple of my favorite sites.

Mason jar salads are easy, healthy, and a great grab-and-go lunch for the busy cubicle dweller. I used to make ten of them every Sunday afternoon, giving both hubby and me lunches for the coming work week. In the morning, all I had to do was grab one out of the refrigerator, drive to work, and pop it into the office fridge to await my lunch hour. Once that magical time arrived, I simply up-ended the jar onto a plate, grabbed a fork, and lunch was served. Easy-peasy!

Overnight oats are another favorite in our household. An hour on the weekend and you can have breakfast for the whole week. Nice. We started with the blueberry lemon recipe and then experimented with substitutions until we discovered our favorite mixtures. Fun, delicious, healthful, and ready when you are.

Yum!!

Posted in bog streak, Family, Recipes | Tagged food, mason jar salads, overnight oats | Comments Off

Family Dynamics & Birth Order

Posted on September 13, 2021 by Debbie

I don’t know about you, but I find family dynamics fascinating. Birth order can have such a lasting effect on our psyches!

If you’re a first-born, you’re likely to be responsible. After all, you helped your folks keep track of the younger rug-rats, and that wasn’t always a picnic. If you’re a middle-kid, you may have occasionally felt lost in the shuffle; also not a great experience. And if you’re the baby of the family, people always assume you’re spoiled! Either that or they’re still treating you like an infant long after you reach the age of consent.

And all of that doesn’t even touch the issues of an only child.

I’m in a unique position to tell you about the differences between only kids and those with siblings, because I’m an only child with five brothers. No, seriously, that’s my actual position in my nuclear family. I have five sibs (all guys), but I was raised as a one and only due to the extreme difference in our ages. (I have a nephew just a few months my junior.) It’s an odd alignment, but it’s the only one I’ve ever known.

Me as an infant with all five of my brothers… and our faithful dog!

So, depending on how you look at it, I’m the baby of six, or I’m an only child. Bizarre, huh?

Like the heroine of one of my short stories, I was blessed (cursed?) with a mom who was wise to the ways of kids. By the time I was old enough to pull shenanigans, I knew I’d have to be very crafty to put anything past Mom. Fortunately, I’m smart…and female. Mom was accustomed to dealing with boys, so I managed to elude the parental units on a number of occasions.

Of course, I also had a bad case of youngest child syndrome — the need to please. Everyone else had already made their mark. What was left for me to excel in? Not much time for rule-breaking when you’re trying to measure up to (and surpass, if possible) five excellent brothers!

Whether you read Debbie Mumford’s SFF and romance works (targeted for adults) or Deb Logan’s fantasies (targeted for teens and tweens), you’ll find quite a few family oriented themes, because, at least in my life, family is important!

Posted in bog streak, Family | Comments Off