4everMom

Update, Meal Plan August 13

noreply@blogger.com (Mom24) — Wed, 12 Aug 2015 15:35:00 +0000

Well, I did it. One year without my dad. I suppose that deserves a blog post all its own, and maybe one of these days I'll get to it, but what I will say is that it was harder than I ever could have known it would be. There were changes that I never saw coming and I guess most of all this year has taught me to be grateful that we can't see too far down the road. I'm not sure I'd always have the strength to keep on doing what I need to do with a positive attitude each day.

Next week I am back to work full-time and the kids start school Wednesday. As always, that means an assessing of my life and I am tweaking some things. I don't know why, but after the one-year anniversary of my dad's dying, I felt like it was time to look forward again. Part of that looking forward is assessing. I have started an exercise routine. I have gained weight over this past year. Honestly, I didn't really realize it, but I have, and I want it to be gone. That's not really what the exercise is about though. I find myself stiff and sore. I look at people who are older and have mobility issues and I look at people who are older and have great mobility, are young in body, and I know which side of the coin I want to be on. I also know it's not like you can wait until you get there (what? I'm not "older" yet, hush!) so I'm starting now. Right now it's nothing major, nothing fancy, just walking, outside, enjoying the fresh air. When that gets old I'll probably head to the gym. I also ordered a cushier (ahem, wider) bike seat for my bike and I'm looking forward to getting that and breaking it in. I just find myself wanting to move, so I'm going to go with it.

Always, our lives run smoother with a meal plan. I'll leave you with this week's. I'll be back, sooner rather than later, pinky swear. I really do have a whole new mindset right now. Hoping the Universe doesn't decide to smack me upside the head and change that.

This week, here's what's on the menu:

Thursday: Flounder w/lemon butter sauce, baby new potatoes, asparagus

Friday: Potluck--I'm taking grilled chicken sliders

Saturday lunch: potluck--meaning search the cabinets and figure it out

Saturday dinner: London Broil, baked potatoes, mushrooms, salad

Sunday lunch: “Summertime” panini--chicken, mozzarella, basil, tomato, bacon? on ciabatta, grilled, chips

Sunday dinner: breakfast or out

Monday: Black bean and pepper jack burgers on jalapeno cheddar buns, corn on the cob

Tuesday: Navajo Fry Bread tacos, melon

Wednesday: Brats, German Potato Salad, veggies

Thursday: CPK Lettuce Wraps, sugar snaps

lunches: Caesar chicken pasta salad, taco salad (me), Naan pizzas, refried bean & cheese burritos

Treats: Brownie/Blondie/Oreo Bars (movie night Julianna), brownies (pool party Jacob), cookies for first day of school lunches

Meal Plan Monday 6/29 Lazy Pants Edition

noreply@blogger.com (Mom24) — Mon, 29 Jun 2015 23:57:00 +0000

Hope you had a good weekend. We did. Mostly. With an asterisk. We went to my mom's. Who am I kidding, we went to my mom and dad's. Yeah. That. Lots and lots of tears and sadness. Glad to see my mom, though a bit worried about her. It was hard for all of us though. I'm not sure at what point it stops feeling like our family is missing a limb, but clearly we're not there yet.

Anyway, when we go visit I take all our groceries and cook a lot of the meals. It's just easier and much less expensive than trying to go our with a bunch of people. Saturday I made a broccoli-lemon chicken pasta dish. It turned out pretty good. I wish I hadn't forgotten the white wine and garlic at home, that would have elevated it for sure, but still, it worked. For lunch we took an assortment of lunchmeat and cheeses and breads with chips. Very popular and very easy.

Sunday Mom took us out to breakfast before we left and we were all in such funky moods when we got back home we went out again for a quick burger--and ice cream in honor of my father who had one heck of a sweet tooth and fondness for ice cream.

The rest of the week is shaping up to be pretty easy meal wise, hence the title of the post, "Lazy Pants Edition". Not apologizing. It's summer and this fits the week perfectly:

Monday (flute): Coney dogs with tater tots
Tuesday (dance): Tuna melts and chips
Wednesday (dance): chicken nuggets and mac and cheese
Thursday: New England Clam Chowder and cornbread

See? Lazy pants indeed. Perfect!

Here's what's brewing for next week:

spaghetti w/meat sauce, bread

tacos, corn cake

Seafood Stew, salmon for Julianna, Italian bread

London broil, baking potatoes, asparagus

Naan pizzas

Tuna Melts, chips

Herbed grilled chicken breasts, corn on the cob, watermelon

pressed sandwich

You can not imagine how long it took me to come up with those. Some days my meal planning mojo is intact, some days it's really missing in action.

Thank you for all the support. I really appreciate it. It makes things a lot easier. I'm sorry I haven't replied to your wonderful comments, things have been crazy, but every one means a lot to me.

Meal Plan Monday June 22

noreply@blogger.com (Mom24) — Tue, 23 Jun 2015 00:34:00 +0000

Whoops! Did not even realize it's been that long! Things have been good. I love summer...not working is so restorative. Love being home with my kids, even if summer has been running them here there and everywhere, which it has been. We had dance recitals, Jacob volunteered at a local writing camp, Jacob and Julianna volunteered at VBS, Julianna had a dance camp. Busy! This week Julianna's at Girl Scout day camp. Next week is full of lots of lovely nothing.

Didn't mean to drop off the face of the earth with my meal plans either. This week we'll be having:
Taco Bar with all the fixings (beef, chicken fillings)
Chimichangas
Meatball subs
Grilled chicken, cheddar chipotle mashed potatoes, salad
Bahama Mama's or hot dogs, chips, cucumber salad
spaghetti and meatballs

I've been doing a lot of reading lately.

We recently acquired a cat, long story, but he was found in our neighborhood. He's very, very friendly which makes it hard to believe he's been homeless, yet he's not fixed and that makes it hard to believe he was someone's pet. The vet thinks he's around 8 or 9 months old because he has terrible teeth. I have a feeling that's going to come back to bite me (get it? lol) Anyway, he's ours now and he's lovely, but he has a habit of walking through the house beginning about 4:15 AM and meowing over and over and over and over again. I can not sleep through it. Also, once I'm awake, I find it very difficult to go back to sleep. Hence all the reading.

Some of the better books I've read lately: Gods in Alabama, Orphan Train, Glitter and Glue, Beach Town, Until the Real Thing Comes Along, While We Were Watching Downton Abbey, The Nightingale, The Unexpected Consequences of Love. Lots more too, as I said I've been doing a lot of reading. :)

I've also been binge watching Netflix. Orange is the New Black. Loved it. Didn't expect to, I really wasn't even sure I was going to watch it, but then I did and I was hooked. I also really enjoyed Grace and Frankie. It was very different, but so well acted.

Anyway, that's a snap shot of what's been going on around here. It's been good. We've dodged a few bullets that would have been disasters, so I'm thankful. Yesterday was Father's Day. It was wonderful to have all four of our kids here, and Jason's family, but there was definitely a huge hole. We all missed my dad very much. Jacob was really sick at the end of last week, Julianna had a last minute big deal doctor's appt. (spoiler: she's fine!) so it wasn't possible to have my mom here too. We missed both of them, but it's a constant emptiness knowing that my dad is gone forever. Forever is a long time y'all. A long time.

Meal Plan Monday June 1

noreply@blogger.com (Mom24) — Mon, 01 Jun 2015 19:11:00 +0000

Oh my goodness, June! This year is zipping by. We have finally reached the point where the end-of-the-year madness slows down. Thank goodness! Just in time for the beginning of summer madness. :) Just as busy, but less stressful, probably due in no part to the fact that I don't work full-time in the summer. Bring on the bon bons!

Cluttered, but clean!

I am trying something new this summer. So far, so good, though I suppose it's too early to tell. It has been a

recurring theme around here that I hate to clean. (Put that in all caps and add lots of exclamation points and you'd be closer to a true picture of how I feel about cleaning.) Conversely, perversely perhaps, I also love a clean house. What to do? Well, I made a list of all the things that should be done daily around here. Wiping down bathroom counters/cleaning toilets, emptying the dishwasher, sweeping the wood, taking laundry downstairs, etc. Then I made a list of all the things that need done on a weekly basis, cleaning bathrooms, vacuuming (well, more like 2-3 times a week, but baby steps), mopping, etc. I added a section of "bonus" things that need done as well as a section of a couple of things that need done that I will pay immediately for the completion of. So, I made a big master chart and tacked it to the wall. Do a chore, initial the chart. At the end of the week, for every 5 "daily" chores you do you get 1 entry, for every weekly or bonus item you do you get 1 entry. After the 7th weekly item you get 2 entries for every thing you do. At the end of every week we'll have a drawing for a prize--$20, a gift card, whatever. So far, so good. It's motivating. I'm crossing things off as I have time instead of feeling like I don't have the time or don't want to clean for hours and hours, the kids are helping, Mark's helping. I'm hoping that it will not only make keeping the house clean a little bit fun, but that it will also help us develop good habits to keeping the house clean all the time. I can tell you if you knocked on my door right this moment I would not be mortified to invite you in, and that's a win!

There's been a lot going on around here. I am so looking forward to just enjoying and embracing summer. Soaking in my kids, it's never far from my consciousness lately that there are precious few of these summers left with them. Their summers are packed full of wonderful activities and our June schedule is the very definition of insanity, but I don't care. I'm going to enjoy every crazy moment of it.

This week, here's what well be eating around here:

Sunday lunch: BLTs, asparagus, watermelon

Sunday dinner: hot dogs, chili sauce, tater tots

Monday: Burgers, corn on the cob, Nancy’s chopped salad

Tuesday (dance, band potluck): sliders

Wednesday (Mark at Muirfield, dance): pot luck

Thursday: mexican pizza

Friday: Fried Chicken and Waffle Sandwiches,fruit

Meal Plan 5/26/15

noreply@blogger.com (Mom24) — Tue, 26 May 2015 13:59:00 +0000

We had a lovely weekend. Rebekah (our oldest daughter who lives about an hour away where she is finishing up her first year teaching) unexpectedly came in for the weekend and we had a lot of fun hanging out all together. Then, Sunday, our oldest, Jason, and his wife and kids came over to celebrate his birthday. We were planning on ordering pizza, but our favorite pizza place turned out to be closed for lunch on Sundays. Luckily I had been grocery shopping the day before and stocked up like crazy so I was able to pull together a cookout without another trip to the store. We had so much fun together and it was wonderful to celebrate his birthday and get to soak up lots of family time. Being a mother is truly what fulfills me and I am so lucky to be my four kids mom. Best thing ever.

Monday, Jacob got to march in our local Memorial Day parade, at one time it was the biggest Memorial Day parade in the state, not sure if it still is, but it's definitely up there. Eighth graders that are joining marching band march with the 9th, 10th and 11th graders as their first official marching band event. Jacob's allergies have been crazy out of control this spring, but luckily he was able to march and he loved it.

There's an awful lot going on this week. Last week of school, my last full-time week of work until school starts again, Jacob's last musical recital, a quick visit with Rebekah, next to last week of dance...you get the picture. Things are slowly winding down, but as they wind down they get a little crazy. I'm sure it's the same everywhere.

One thing that helps me stay sane during crazy times is to have a good meal plan. So, this week here's the plan:

Tuesday (dance, sax): leftovers from the cookout. Burgers or grilled chicken, potato salad, corn on the cob, cut up veggies

Wednesday (dance, Rebekah): [Dinner needs to be all make ahead this night.] Crockpot chicken sandwiches, cheesy potato casserole (similar to this one, though I "only" use 1 cup of sour cream), cut up veggies, maybe broccoli salad just because I want to try it and I have no idea if any of us are going to like it. One extra person here increases the hope it will actually get eaten. ;)

Thursday (last day of school!!!): Steak kebabs, rice, salad I use this marinade from Serious Eats, but I cook my steak and veggies separately. I'll have sicks of sirloin, sticks of mushrooms, sticks of yellow squash, sticks of onion and sticks of cherry tomatoes. That way there's no worries about over/under cooking.

Friday (last day of work): Not completely sure yet, maybe Nancy's chopped salad. Looks and sounds delicious and if it doesn't work out for Friday night I'll make it later in the weekend.

I have no idea what the weekend will bring. I will probably wait until it's closer to plan that out. It's going to be more important than ever to stick to a plan though because much as I love going out for a quick bite, it's not healthy and it adds up fast. Not working all summer obviously means no paycheck this summer so going out will definitely not be a good idea.

Hope you all have a good week. I'm actually a bit sad to see school winding down. My work situation which as been lovely this year will be a bit different next year. I won't ever have an elementary age child again and my last two will be moving up to high school and middle school. It makes me melancholy to think about the fact that in a precious few, very short years my last two will be gone. Not ready to face that truth at all, but I'm already getting glimpses that ready or not the change is coming.

Meal Plan 5/18/15

noreply@blogger.com (Mom24) — Sun, 17 May 2015 22:11:00 +0000

I miss my blog. I miss having my meal plans to refer back to, so I figure that's where I'm going to start. I'll sit down later this week and do a post about what's been going on around here too, but for now, this is a start.

Busy, busy week. Everything is being crammed into too short of time for the month of May and it is mucho busy around here. This week:

Monday (Julianna flute lesson): Linguini w/scampi. Shrimp for us, salmon for Junie. Roasted broccoli w/toasted gremolata
Tuesday (marching band practice, jazz, choir concert): grilled chicken caesar salad w/ crouton
Wednesday (hair appointment, dance): Tuna Melts, chips

Thursday (piano): breakfast potatoes, breakfast sandwiches or Cashew Chicken, rice

Friday (marching band practice, piano recital): wraps w/fried chicken fingers w/maple mustard sauce*, fruit

*Maple Mustard Sauce by How Sweet Eats

1/3 cup dijon mustard
1 tablespoon maple syrup
2 teaspoons honey
Whisk ingredients together and serve.

I hope you have a good week. I miss you too...and you.

PTSD

noreply@blogger.com (Mom24) — Fri, 14 Nov 2014 16:18:00 +0000

Forgive me, this is going to be bits and pieces...that seems to be how my mind works lately. Is there such a thing as PTSD after intense illness and death of a loved one? I think that's what's going on here. There are triggers and I'll come across one and my world is rocked for a time, sometimes a few hours, sometimes a few days, sometimes longer.

Tuesday I played phone tag with my mom throughout the day. I was having the.best.day.ever. Two of the boys I watch were ill (boo!) but not too seriously, thank God, and I had an unexpected and, honestly, once-in-a-lifetime, day off. What are the odds? Jacob and Julianna were at school and both my full-time families were off sick, my part-timers were not scheduled for that day. I was a bad mama and told Julianna no when she asked me to come to her school assembly (shh, I know, still feeling guilty over that one), and giddily planned my day. What a day it was! I got to lay in bed a bit before I had to get up, true luxury as I'm usually up by 5:00 or 5:30. I made lunches in my ratty old bathrobe, had a nice slow morning. I had a return to do at the mall and decided I wanted to get back into a skin care routine. I'd noticed that morning when I went to put my makeup on that my skin was looking well, let's just say not its best. At least I was certainly hoping it wasn't its best. The woman at Clinique offered to do a whole makeover and I thought, why not? I had all the time in the world. How luxurious! She did my skincare and makeup and indeed I was happy. I bought all the skin care (and still pleased, a few days later) and a bit of makeup and headed off to the next thing on my list--Tarjay. Did my shopping there, alone! fabulous! and headed out to lunch at my favorite French cafe. Lunch was wonderful!! Onion soup, Caesar salad, baguette, strawberry tart. Yum! After lunch I headed out to get my hair cut and colored. (I know!!! It had been months since I had that done.) At this point I was literally skipping, I was so happy. I came home, grabbed the pups (sometime I need to write about our pups, but that's a story for another day), and walked to Julianna's school to wait for school to get out. We stayed at the playground a bit while Julianna played with Matthew and Lily and still, it was the best! day! ever!! I took Julianna to dance and headed out to Whole Foods, trying my mom yet again. It was getting ridiculous at this point, we just kept missing each other. When I finally connected with her I ended up just sitting in the car sobbing. (Mom, if you find this, and I hope you don't, please don't feel like the answer is for you to hide when you're not feeling well. Not. the. answer. Not at all. I want to know, I want to help when I can.) I felt so helpless, and scared and honestly, for a bit there, I was very afraid of losing her, and I think truly she was afraid of that too. She thinks her blood sugar had crashed, and she says she's fine now, it's happened before, but when you live alone it's scary and very dangerous. She has passed out from it before and if that happened and she was alone, well, it wouldn't be good.

Since then, I've been off. Down a bit, waiting for the shoe to drop.

Yesterday I hadn't heard from Rebekah and I could tell she hadn't been online at all that day, which is a bit unusual for her, usually she would text and say hi, or check her FB or whatever. Anyway, it hit me, as it does from time to time, that if something happened to her we wouldn't know. I think, for me, that is the hardest part of her new life. She has no roommates and it's scary to know that there are times something could happen to her and no one would know. Still, I don't think it would have bothered me as much if I had been in a better place emotionally.

I'm not always down. Most of the time I'm okay. I think it's all a normal part of the grieving process, but I do find myself with the "waiting for the shoe to drop" feeling more often than I did before my dad's illness and death. Even as I was having my best! day! ever! I kept thinking to myself that something was going to happen, it couldn't be that good, I was going to pay. Again, I think it's all within the bounds of normal, I just wish it wasn't a part of my process.

My sleep rhythms are all off. They have been for a while now. They were messed up before my dad died, they got really messed up after he died, and they're messed up again. When I wake up in the middle of the night I give in and read. If I lay in bed, trying to go back to sleep, I just think endlessly about his last two weeks. The only way to avoid that is to think about something else intentionally, hence reading helps tremendously.

This too shall pass, and all that. I guess it took me a bit by surprise because I (I know how ridiculous this sounds, it's okay, you can laugh at me, just don't think I'm horrible), thought I had somewhat reconciled myself to the idea of losing my mom. Definitely not. (Mom, if you're reading this, you need to live a long, long time, m'kay?)

I thought I was going to write down some random bits about life in general right now, but it seems like this is what needed to come out, so I'm going to leave it at that. Just another step in the grieving journey.

Heavy Heart

noreply@blogger.com (Mom24) — Thu, 23 Oct 2014 14:39:00 +0000

The title says it all. My heart is just heavy right now. Grief is overwhelming, all-encompassing, horrible. It skews everything. Any stress, and problem seems bigger, harder to deal with, exhausting...or, maybe that's just me.

Anyway, that's where I'm at. I feel like I've taken a big step backward in the grieving process, the tears are never far away. It's the forever-ness of it. I struggle with feeling like I would love to have just one more conversation, one more time to tell him how much I love him, thank him for everything he did for me.

Life goes on, and it is, albeit with significantly less coping skills. It's not pretty. Not really looking forward to the holidays, but we'll get through it. Here's hoping what's on the other side is more peaceful.

It's Been a While

noreply@blogger.com (Mom24) — Thu, 16 Oct 2014 17:50:00 +0000

I can not believe I haven't blogged since February. What the what? Then again, it's been quite a year. Let's see, when we left off I was trying to put all the pegs back in their places after my dad had a heart attack, my mom had a mini stroke and our dog died. Since then, my mom is doing very well, we've gotten two puppies, and my dad passed away. Still struggling with that one. Even just writing it makes me tear up, I haven't seemed to reach the milestone where I can talk about it without crying. As I get back in the bloggy swing of things I'll probably write about it, but all I'll say here is that he started going down hill this summer, at the end of July he was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and two weeks to the day later, he died.

I'm not young, my dad and I were close, but still it surprises me that I am having a horrible time trying to cope with it. I miss my dad. I feel like I don't know who I am without my dad in my life. My dad was my biggest cheerleader, my biggest fan, a person who generously gave unconditional love, and it's shaken my foundation to lose that. However, in life we don't get a choice, we have to sort of figure out how to pick up the pieces and move forward, so that's what I'm trying to do.

I discovered that I miss blogging. I miss the connections to people that I made, though a lot of those may be long gone. I hope not, but if they are I understand. I also miss the written record, so, I'm trying to begin again.

I'll start nice and easy, with a meal plan. That sounds like me, doesn't it? The week ahead is busy, though tomorrow, gloriously, I have the day off. Here's what we'll be eating this week:

Thursday (piano, Julianna home): Crockpot chicken sandwiches, funeral potatoes, veggies

Friday (no school, band): Flank steak, baked potatoes, asparagus

Saturday lunch: Crockpot chicken sandwiches

Saturday dinner: Apricot and Cheddar Chicken Melt, chips

Sunday lunch: Mustard chicken, wild rice, fall salad or this fall salad

Sunday dinner (Nutcracker): chili/coney dogs

Monday (boot camp, Julianna art): Chicken Divan Casserole, salad, pumpkin rolls

Tuesday (mom, boot camp, dance): Wedding soup, bread or this bread

Wednesday (boot camp, sax, dance): leftovers or pot luck

Thursday (boot camp, girl scouts): crockpot pepper steak, rice

I've missed you. Leave me a comment and let me know what you've been up to.

Meal Plan Feb. 27, 2014

noreply@blogger.com (Mom24) — Thu, 27 Feb 2014 16:19:00 +0000

Hello. Finding it hard to blog. Not enough time, but also struggling with where the lines are. What stories are mine to tell, what stories could inadvertently hurt someone I care about? So, for now, we'll keep it nice and generic. I do love being able to go back and look up what I was cooking, what recipes I used, so I thought I'd get my meal plan down.

Thursday (robotics club, GS): Pork chops, cheddar chive baked potatoes, "pot-stuck" Brussels sprouts
Friday: Homemade pizza--I'll keep it simple, probably, though this fig, caramelized onion and sausage one is definitely calling my name.
Saturday: Cheesecake Factory Cashew Chicken*, rice, szechwan green beans
Sunday: Vegetarian (I've always left out the meat, you never miss it) Lasagna-style Baked Ziti, bread, salad
Monday: Grilled Chicken Club Panini, chips, cut up veggies
Tuesday (sax, dance, Mardi Gras): Individual King Cakes for breakfast
Jambalaya, cornbread or make ahead garlic bread
Wednesday (Ash Wednesday): Ice cream (Julianna's having 2 teeth pulled. I promised ice cream for dinner. There'll be leftovers to have just in case. :)
Thursday (Band concert): Garlic Herb Oven-Fried Halibut, garlicky parslied new potatoes, skillet green beans

I might also make these fun pinwheel cookies in honor of Dr. Suess' birthday, March 2.

**scaled down: Cheesecake Factory Cashew Chicken--here's the scaled down sauce: 2 cups soy sauce (1c)* 24 oz hoisin (12)* 1/2c + 2T chili garlic sauce (1/4c + 1T)* 1 3/4 c sugar (3/4c +2T)* 1 c rice vinegar (1/2c)* 2c garlic (1c)* 1 1/2 c sherry (3/4c)* 1/4 oz chili flakes (1/8 oz)*

Hope you have a good week full of good things.

I'm Here

noreply@blogger.com (Mom24) — Fri, 17 Jan 2014 13:53:00 +0000

I'm here. I promise. It's been a roller coaster of a few weeks, but things are getting back on an even keel now. My dad had a heart attack at the end of December and we spent almost a week hanging out with them, praying, waiting, hoping for the best. On January 3 he had a quadruple bypass and he came home from the hospital the following week. Things have been a little crazy, but my dad and mom are doing well and we're thankful for that.

I'm working on changing some things about my life and our lives, little changes that add up to big changes, and that on top of trying to keep all the balls in the air means even less time than normal for anything "extra". I'm updating another blog about the lifestyle journey that I'm on, leave a comment or shoot me an email if you're interested in the link, it's not private, you can easily find it, anyone that's not related to me and is interested is welcome to check it out.

So, in summary. Life is challenging, but good. Life is busy. Changes are happening.

Hope all is well with your new year.

Trying to Find My Voice Again

noreply@blogger.com (Mom24) — Mon, 02 Dec 2013 01:45:00 +0000

Thanksgiving. Wonderful. A blur. Honestly it was all just a little lost to me this year. I definitely enjoyed having family here. I think the meal was okay. (Yes, truly "okay" though I hope it was better than that). With Hanukkah here the night before it was all just a lot squeezed into a very short time span. I'm not sad that that will never happen again.

Today, I've had turkey carcasses simmering all day long in preparation for stone soup. Okay, the name around here is definitely "cream de carcass" no matter how much I loathe it, but no matter what you call it, it's absolutely wonderful. Rich, full bodied and full-flavored turkey stock, half and half, wild rice, carrots, celery and turkey. Awesome. Paired up with an excellent loaf of bread tomorrow it will be the perfect dinner. It will also be nice to have turkey stock waiting in the freezer for the next time the craving hits. If you haven't tried it yet, you really should. It still makes me sad when I think of all the years we just tossed the turkey when we thought we were done with it.

Looking ahead to the week I think we'll be trying some Tetrazzini and perhaps a turkey pot pie. I'm craving Eggs Benedict, that might work itself into the menu. Honestly I'm not sure what else. The freezer is stocked so I'm sure we'll be eating yummy stuff. Probably tomorrow or Tuesday I'll get serious about creating an actual plan.

Trite, I know, but I cannot believe it's actually December. It must be though, the candles in the menorahs are burning, the elf needs moved, ready or not the holidays approach. I'm going to try very hard to find the balance this year between being too relaxed and zen (read: nothing gets done) and being so obsessed that I don't find the time to enjoy things. I have not done anywhere near the shopping that I normally would have by this time, honestly, I'm struggling to come up with ideas for the kids, not a position I find myself in often. My mom's having surgery just before Christmas, that's going to require lots of flexibility as well as lots of planning, ideally we'll have all our traditions done by then, so I can go see her or be on call if she or my dad need me, yet that only gives us two weekends to get things done which takes my breath away a bit. Beginning of January Mark and I are going away, our kids have gifted us with a weekend away, so there's lots to look forward to there as well. I have a feeling it's going to be a ying/yang kind of month and I'm going to do my best to prioritize, let go of what doesn't really matter in the grand scheme of things, fight to make happen the things that do matter and most of all try to keep the balance. Wish me luck.

Hope your holidays were all that you'd wish them to be, surrounded by friends and family that you'd choose to surround yourself with.

Meal Plan Monday on a Tuesday!

noreply@blogger.com (Mom24) — Tue, 29 Oct 2013 12:46:00 +0000

Julianna's birthday week which is a very, very big deal to my little girl. Eleven! Wow! I'm afraid I officially have no babies left. We're all very excited that Rebekah's coming home to help celebrate Julianna's birthday, and, I have to say, there's going to be lots of good eats around here.

Here's what's in the works for the week:

Monday (gluten free!): Plum chicken, rice, sugar snap peas--I cut up the chicken into bite size pieces, use breasts instead of thighs because that's what the picky eaters I live with ~~demand~~ prefer. Also, not sure how much difference it makes, but I always use Bonne Maman preserves in this. They just seem perfect for this recipe. Have you made this yet? Do it! Delicious! Easy to keep ingredients in the pantry or freezer for a quick (less than 30 minute) meal. Definitely a keeper around here.

Tuesday: Pork chops, Tyler Florence's roasted acorn squash, Brussels sprouts (Try the acorn squash. Delicious! Brushed with Amaretto, brown sugar, butter, filled with little crushed Italian cookies, they are wonderful.)

Wednesday: Wedding Soup and Italian bread (All right, I know I'm gushing, but seriously this week is full of things that if you're not making you should give a try. The wedding soup by Ina Garten is awesome, the star of the soup is the meatballs made from ground chicken and chicken Italian sausage. Really, really good.)

Thursday (Halloween): Grilled cheese/peanut butter, apples, cut up veggies

Friday (Julianna's birthday!!!) Ina Garten's Chicken Pot Pie

Saturday lunch w/family: Sloppy Joes, Veggie Sloppy Joes, Tater Tots, cut up veggies, apples, Mint Chocolate Chip Ice cream cake

Saturday dinner: Beef Stew, biscuits

Sunday lunch: Cracker Barrel

Sunday dinner: Pita pizzas

Welp, that's our week. It's going to be full, full, full of good things. Hoping Jacob and Julianna have lots of fun trick or treating Thursday night and that Julianna's birthday makes her heart happy. Have a good week!

Monday Recap (on a Sunday!) and a Meal Plan

noreply@blogger.com (Mom24) — Mon, 07 Oct 2013 01:20:00 +0000

How was your weekend? Ours was lovely, ugly, busy, slow, emotional, exhausting. In other words, it was real life. I'm sad to see the potential of the weekend over, (is there anything more beautiful than Friday at 4:30 with all the possibilities of a wonderful weekend stretched out before you?), but ready to be back on an even keel. Unbelievably, we had ice cream for dinner twice (!!) this weekend with potato skins and Asian wings on the other night. I'd count it as a parenting fail, but you know what? sometimes it's just okay to break all the rules. Sometimes it really is.

It's finally supposed to get a little more fall-like in our temps, so for dinners sometime in the near future we'll be eating:

Chili w/cornbread
Chili spaghetti (spaghetti topped w/chili, onions and cheddar) w/garlic bread
Dutch baby or Belgian waffles w/ham and sauteed apples
Meatloaf w/parsley potatoes, roasted carrots
Grandma's chicken and rice** w/broccoli and wheat rolls
Pork chops w/baked sweet potatoes and brown sugar butter and green beans
Chicken Noodle Soup, grilled cheese
Tacos, refried beans, corn cake

A little farther out I've had Chicken and Dumplings and Chicken Pot Pie requested, I'll have to fit those in soon. I've also got Halibut, and Paiche [make fish tacos--1 lb. paiche, 1/4 cup canola oil, 1 lime, juiced, 1 tablespoons ancho chili powder--marinate for a bit, grill, flake and serve in tortillas with cabbage tossed with salt, lime juice and cilantro. Delicious!] in the freezer and City Chicken will have to make an appearance soon.

I'm also hoping to make some banana bread, cranberry orange bread and pumpkin bread, as well as make applesauce an apple pie, some popcorn balls and some kind of cookies for the cookie jar. No, I don't have the week off work, so we'll see how that goes.

I made the best veggie dish I think I've ever made last week. I got it from My Recipes. Delicious! Heat a medium skillet over high heat until very hot. Combine 2 cups sugar snap peas,1/2 cup sliced shallots, and 1/4 cup pine nuts in a small bowl; add 1 tablespoon oil, tossing to coat. Add pea mixture to pan; cook 3 minutes or until peas are bright green and blackened in spots and nuts are lightly toasted, stirring frequently. Awesome! I'm hoping to make that again soon.

Another good one to pass on. Jacob and Julianna have been taking wraps to school for lunch. I start with a multi-grain wrap (12g of fiber!), grilled chicken, romaine for Julianna, spinach for Jacob, goat cheese, carrots and apples for Julianna and a little bit of vinaigrette on hers as well. Roll it all up, wrap it in parchment and it's good to go. Yes, sometimes I wish my little darlings would just eat a PB&J already or, I'd settle for Mac & Cheese too, that recently has made the "will not eat at school" list, but I also must admit that it's nice to see them make such healthy choices. They take lunch every day, it gets challenging coming up with ideas they'll eat. These wraps were a big hit.

Well, that's about all I've got. I'm working on getting my cooking mojo back. These temps that have gone on and on and on have rendered me mute cooking-wise. This week is supposed to be cooler, and I'm hoping I'll be able to get back in the game. It's time.

I'm also hoping that this week brings a calmness that we all need. It's time for that too.

I hope you have a good week. I hope we all have a good week.

**Grandma's Chicken and Rice
Meaty Chicken parts
2 cans cream of chicken soup (healthy version is fine)
2 cans cream of celery soup
2 cans Golden Mushroom soup
1 can water
11/2 cups long grain rice
Combine soups, water and rice. Put in bottom of 13x9" casserole. Top with chicken parts. Bake at 300 degrees for 3 hours.

Monday, Monday

noreply@blogger.com (Mom24) — Mon, 30 Sep 2013 11:49:00 +0000

Oh my goodness is it a Monday around here...

something disgusting in our sheets this morning, no idea what it is but I don't like to think too much about the fact that we slept on them that way. Good thing it was on Mark's side. ;) (and by his feet.) Good thing too it was already on my to-do list to wash our sheets.
Speaking of to-do lists, mine's so long I'd want to go back to bed, pull up the covers and hide, you know, if the covers weren't so gross.
I went downstairs to throw the sheets in the washer and discovered a load sitting in there from Friday. Ever since I got my front loader I have been fanatical about never, and I mean never, leaving a load in the washer for even a few hours. Now, I've not only broken that, I left them in for days. They stunk! Hoping my washer doesn't stink too.
We never wear shoes in the house. However, I may be making an exception. There's so much sad and grit and just plain dirt on my floors it's driving me crazy to walk on them. Donning shoes sounds much easier than sweeping, right?
No idea what I'm going to make for dinner because I didn't defrost the chicken and marinate it like I had planned.
I need to be home all day doing laundry, seriously, yet I also need to get a couple of errands run, including buying and shipping a birthday present to my friend, whose birthday is today.

Hope your Monday's off to a better start.

What Works For You Freezer Edition

noreply@blogger.com (Mom24) — Wed, 18 Sep 2013 11:56:00 +0000

Does your freezer look like this? Or, more importantly, does it not look like this? How do you keep a freezer so it's not an act of courage to open it, let alone actually take something out of it? I'm about at the end of my rope. Help!

I'm embarrassed to add that we have another fridge/freezer and full size freezer in the garage, but this is the one that gets used day in/day out and it's a MESS. If you have any tips, I'm all ears.

Is It Friday Yet?

noreply@blogger.com (Mom24) — Thu, 12 Sep 2013 01:49:00 +0000

Resorting to bullet points. Sorry.

We're all still alive and I'm even well (knocking furiously on wood). Trying to adjust to being back to school and work, which is a bit tougher of an adjustment than I anticipated. Jacob started middle school and he doesn't get home until 4:15. So far, that makes it difficult to practice 2 instruments, do homework, do chores, spend time with family, take private lessons, and do the myriad of other things we all have to do. We're working on it. Eventually, hopefully, it will all come together.
Big storm tonight. Loss of power, old news for our neighborhood, you can pretty much count on that. Unfortunately, we lost a limb in a maple tree close to our house and it got caught in the tree. So we have a good sized limb dangling over our deck (my grill, gah! I need to cook on my grill!), close to the house and power lines. I'm afraid of 1. how much it will cost to get it cleared, 2. when we'll be able to get someone out to do it. The first company told me it would be weeks. Ugh!
Meal plan's done. Woot! Busy times up ahead, for sure. Date night, quick trip to see Rebekah, endless errands and grocery shopping (hardest part of working full-time for me, I think), a camping trip (cross your fingers the weather cooperates), doctor appointments, and even a weekend away for Mark and I (which I also have mixed feelings about. *sigh*)
Extra long meal plan as I'm trying to avoid grocery shopping next weekend.

Pork chops, red potatoes, veggie
Breakfast burritos, fruit
tuna melts, bacon, apple raspberry vinaigrette salad
Baked potatoes, steak, mushrooms, spinach salad
homemade pizza
brats, german potato salad, devilled eggs, carrots & celery, baked beans
spaghetti w/meat sauce, garlic bread
Rainbow Trout w/seared sugar snaps, glazed carrots, mashed potatoes
Orange pork tenderloin, roasted veggie rice mix, veggie, spinach salad
Hot dogs, hand pies
grilled cheese, soup
stuffing casserole, green beans, dinner rolls, cranberry sauce
Broiled sea bass w/pineapple chile glaze, szechwan green beans, rice

I love my new washer. Our water bill has gone from $350/ quarter to $261. Wow! Go front loaders!
After realizing that I had not bought undies, bras or socks in honestly years, I've been correcting that. Feels wonderful. I've moved on to replacing dying nightgowns and amping up my wardrobe. Long overdue.
Julianna graduated to hard shoes in her Irish dance class. A very big deal indeed that is making her little heart sing. So happy for her.

Welp, that's it. All I've got. Just checking in to update a little of what's going on around here. Hope you have a good week. Inching, and I do mean inching, along to Friday.

Rambling...

noreply@blogger.com (Mom24) — Tue, 06 Aug 2013 12:36:00 +0000

First, Happy Birthday to my dad! We saw him on Sunday and sadly I won't get to see him today, but he'll be in my thoughts and prayers as always, and I hope he has a really good day.

Everything else is pretty random...hope that doesn't turn you off.

The issue that I alluded to last week is looking up. I feel more optimistic than I have in months and it's hard to live life joyfully when you're apprehensive, stressed and scared. Knocking on wood that we've found the solution and growing more confident day by day that we have. Ironically, the solution was extremely simple, so I'm giving thanks for that too. Thank you for keeping me in your prayers and if things continue to improve as I'm hopeful they will I'll update with the full story eventually. If we're on the right track it could help someone else someday.

I find the beginning of a new school year more motivating than the beginning of a calendar year. The holidays wear me out! Julianna's birthday, my grandkids' birthdays, Thanksgiving, Hanukkah, Christmas, Mark's birthday, our anniversary, who has time to figure out how to fix what needs fixing, let alone what's realistic to work on? Oh sure, sometimes I set resolutions, but my heart is much more into them and my motivation is higher at the beginning of the school year.

So...changes. I'm back to work full-time next week and determined to be on top of the game this year. Figure out a schedule that works for grocery shopping, working out, making time for the things we think are important but maybe no one would ever know that by the way our schedule really looks. I want to eat healthier. For dinner I'd like to institute a meatless meal every week, we've been doing that gradually but I'd like to give it a little more structure. I'd like to build fish into our meal plan 6x a month, a challenge because it's expensive, and I prefer to shop for and serve fish in a short time span; again, organization.

I need help with some ideas for healthy and portable breakfast ideas for Mark. The microwave at his company is far from where he works so it's not convenient for him to warm something up or microwave some water for oatmeal. He has no refrigeration so cereal's out. Help! Right now he subsists on skipping it, not good when you get up at 5:30, his energy level definitely dives and he finds it hard to get through his day, or he eats Pop-Tarts, Fig Newtons and granola bars. We've got to be able to figure out something better.

I need help too on figuring out yummy, easy, satisfying lunches. If I eat something I don't really like then I find myself wanting to eat all afternoon, seeking out that satisfaction that was missing. It needs to be easy to prepare because I have lots of little people here to feed at lunchtime and making something complicated just isn't going to happen. Oh yes, I loathe leftovers. There. That's not so hard, right? Anyway, if you have any strokes of brilliance I'd really appreciate it.

Thank you for the help, hope your last bit of time before school starts is good for you and for us. We're painting the girls' room this weekend. Dreading that! One wall's going to be raspberry, one wall lime, one wall raspberry with lime polka dots and one wall lime with raspberry polka dots. Should be interesting!

This and That...July 27, 2013

noreply@blogger.com (Mom24) — Sat, 27 Jul 2013 23:23:00 +0000

Where to begin? No clue. I can't believe summer is almost over. We've done a whole lot of nothing, but in a beautiful way. We've been to the pool, though I'd like to have gone more. Honestly there've been a lot of days it's been either too hot (98°+ for over a week) or too cool (73° highs) but that's okay too. On the hot days we were really blessed to have our A/C running strong and on the cool days Jacob and Julianna have been giving the trampoline quite the workout.

Julianna learned to ride a bike this summer. That feels like not so little of a miracle. At 10 gaining on 11 I had just about started to give up hope of it ever happening. I learned it's not something you can make someone do or even bribe them into. Believe me, I tried. Anyway, someone suggested the balance bike approach, and though we don't own a balance bike and I was definitely not investing any more money in her learning to ride, I showed her a great you tube video of it and encouraged her to give it a try. Much to my surprise she did, and within a week she was riding. Incredible. Truly. We even bought her a new bike to celebrate, although this is the new bike and in the picture it looks like it's still too small. It's not. She's happy as a lark and rides her bike every day, multiple times a day. I am so thankful. Truly.

Julianna went to Girl Scout's summer camp for the first time. Honestly, it was a bit of a bummer and she came home thankful that it had only been a three day, two night program. It was disorganized, not well run and the counselors were much less interested than they should have been. Not good. She had a fine time and it all worked out, but I'm not sure I'd want to send her again and I'm not sure she'll want to go again, so that's a bit of a bummer.

Jacob turned 13 and all I have is this really crappy iPhone pic. Too busy living in the moment, so that's okay. His biggest wish was to spend his birthday at my parents, so we did. His birthday dinner request was fried ravioli and antipasta, with cupcakes topped with 7-minute frosting, coconut and dots. Icing on the metaphorical cake, Matt and Lily went to my parents also, and I think it was a pretty successful birthday. He got Skylanders for the Wii, his greatest wish, along with Smash Brothers Brawl which he had not previously been allowed to have since it was rated T, and some cash to spend amassing Skylanders. Rebekah gave him her old iPod, which thrilled him to no end as it's capacity is 4x the one he owned. Jason and Lori gave him a couple of PG-13 movies and movie candy to enjoy them with. My parents gave him money to spend, always a hit. He was very happy and is looking forward to doing something to celebrate with his friends when they return in the fall.

Well, out of inspiration, just a little glimpse at some of the things that have happened this summer.

All in all it's been a pretty good summer. Unfortunately, there's been some really rotten stuff going on too, stuff I really can't get into but that has dominated a lot of my summer. I've had to cancel a trip I was really looking forward to, some precious time Mark took off got infringed on, it's affected my time with the kids. I'd love to go into more detail, but it's personal and not really the kind of thing to put out in cyberspace. Suffice it to say the kids are wonderful, Mark and I are wonderful, it's nothing like that. Hopefully it'll get figured out soon, if it hasn't already, it's truly a time will tell thing, and eventually it will be just a distant memory. Hopefully. If you're a praying person maybe you could pray for me, God knows what it is, and I'm praying that he'll see fit to lift this from me.

Hope you're enjoying your summer. I'm really hoping the next couple of weeks do not fly by and that we get to squeeze every bit of fun we can from them. I'm hoping for more yummy meals, like the fish tacos we had tonight (delicious!!), and that, when the time comes, fall gets off on the right foot.

[I'm still missing Reader and having a hard time finding something that works as well for me. Feedly's all right, but the mobile apps aren't terribly good and I'm wishing there was something better. Sorry I'm not commenting, but I'm reading and I'll try to get better.]

Happy Summer!

Meal Plan Monday--June 3, 2013

noreply@blogger.com (Mom24) — Tue, 04 Jun 2013 01:49:00 +0000

Ahhh, exhale. First day of summer vacation and it was positively blissful...and lazy...and everything we'd hoped it would be. We lounged around like sloths and read or played until 10 AM!! Then, after we showered and got ready for the day we headed downtown to choose "fun" sheet music for their summer music lessons (Taylor Swift, Imagine Dragons and Movie themes). I needed milk for dinner so we went to our downtown market which is a wonderful collection of markets and restaurants. The stall I like to buy milk from was closed but thankfully somewhere else had milk too. We had a very cheap lunch, picked some things up from Lowes, then back home for a few chores and basically more lazing. It was a great first day off. I have to work tomorrow (who thought that was a good idea??), but then I'm off again for a couple of weeks. We're still busy, the kids' activities are winding down but not down yet (I'm thinking it would be nice if activity schedules could adjust to the school schedule, now that school's done in May, it would be wonderful if activities didn't last into the middle of June), and we'll be striving for that balance of relaxation, activities, chores and responsibilities. It's all good. I love summer vacation and I'm very thankful to have a job where that means I get summer off too.

Here's what's on our meal plan this week:

Sunday dinner: Taco Salad

Monday: Ina Garten's lobster mac and cheese, broccoli

Tuesday (work, dance): pot luck

Wednesday: Scallops, new potatoes, grilled asparagus

Thursday (drama): Rosemary grilled chicken w/orange dipping sauce, brown rice, pea pods

Friday (Jacob Cameron’s): Southwestern Chicken Salads, baguettes

Saturday lunch: out--Art Festival

Saturday dinner: Tomato & Basil Pasta, bread, special spinach salad

Sunday lunch: cheese stuffed french toast with strawberries, bacon

Sunday dinner: OU

The lobster mac and cheese was a splurge from our cancelled weekend that I finally got around to making. Jacob and Mark loved it. Julianna not so much. Me? I thought it was fine, but if I'm going to spend an absolute fortune of dinner, mac and cheese is not how I would choose to spend it. Now, even though the recipe said serves 6-8 and even though Mark and Jacob both took seconds, we still barely put a dent in it. (The picture of the casserole dish is after we were all served for the first time.) Guess the kids I watch will be dining on lobster mac and cheese tomorrow. :)

Jacob and Julianna have requested that we have salads once a week this summer. They don't really make it look like a salad, I put everything out salad bar style and they take what they want. They love it. Last night we had taco salads and I made tortilla bowl shells, like in a restaurant (though ours were better!) I took burrito sized tortillas and brushed them lightly with oil on both sides, draped them over cooking sprayed oven safe bowls on a cookie sheet and baked them at 400 degrees for 15 minutes. They were incredible! Give them a try. Really easy and great results. I'll be making them again for sure.

Have a wonderful week!

Hyperventilating

noreply@blogger.com (Mom24) — Thu, 30 May 2013 17:10:00 +0000

I've already shared this week that I'm almost done working for the summer. I'll have just about 10 weeks off, which in most ways will be absolutely wonderful. Our budget however is going to take a huge, take your breath away, hit. I've been floating along the world's longest river for a while now, just assuring myself that everything will be fine, but today I took a hard look at the numbers. It ain't pretty.

Most immediate item is that I need to cut the amount I spend on groceries by at least a third. A third. Wow. Factor in how much we spend on groceries, dining out, and a sneaky little category called "household" which is really where I dump any spending I don't quite want to acknowledge and you're talking closer to in half. The reality is that even if I managed to cut everything in half (which I know would be a huge struggle), we'll still be short. Considerably.

I'm trying to let it all sink in.

What I see is a whole lot more shopping at Wal-Mart this summer and a whole lot less at Kroger and Whole Foods. A whole lot more saying "no", which is not my style at all. A lot more simple meals and maybe, just maybe, this will be the summer my kids learn to tolerate peanut butter.

I know we're talking first world problems. I know we're lucky this is temporary. There is an end in sight, it's just relatively far away and I hate the thought of going through the summer saying no and stressing about money.

Hopefully I'll rise to the occasion and do such a great job budget meal planning and seeking out inexpensive activities that the impact the kids see and feel will be minimal. Hopefully. We're definitely a step ahead in that we bought a pool membership. Trips to the pool will be "free", we always tend to pack snacks to take with us so that's helpful. They're getting to a tricky age where trips to the park/playgrounds are okay once in a while, but I'm going to have to find some inexpensive things to do that appeal to young teens/tweens. Ideas? I feel like all the programs I check into are aimed at preschool/elementary kids.

How do you cut your family's budget when it feels pretty bare to begin with? I'd appreciate any tips.

One thing I know I'm going to be doing is spending this summer eating down our freezers (yes, plural) and pantry. Everything's over flowing. The reason it's over flowing for the most part is because it's stuff we don't really want to eat, but it's time to get creative, or just plain bite the bullet and use it up.

Wish me luck.

MPM May 27, 2013

noreply@blogger.com (Mom24) — Tue, 28 May 2013 00:23:00 +0000

We had a lovely weekend though it was definitely not the weekend we had planned. Jacob was indeed too sick to go away, though we did give it a good try, including driving halfway to our getaway before finally realizing it was.not.meant.to.be. C'est la vie. You improvise. Throw one plan out and go with plan B. It worked. Most of all we enjoyed being together and relaxing, who can ask more than that?

This week is the last week of school. Woohoo! Coincidentally it's also my last week of full-time employment for the summer, a fact I have mixed feelings about. I am honestly going to miss my little people, a lot. It's time for a break and I will enjoy it, but I will also miss seeing them every day. I'm also going to miss the money. I contribute a significant amount to our family's income and it's a little scary to know that is gone for the next 10 weeks. I don't love being poor, I don't do penny pinching well. It's going to be rough. In other ways though it's going to be wonderful. Sleeping in. Going places, doing things with just my kidlets. Relaxing. Yay!!

Here's what's on the meal plan for this week. You'll notice it's a little splurgy in places, we decided since we didn't spend the money on our giveaway we'd spend it on some meals we'd been dreaming about. Hoping they're good!

Monday: BBQ ribs, corn on the cob, baked potatoes, grilled asparagus, cole slaw
Tuesday: Dance night--pot luck
Wednesday: Rigatoni, Alex Guarnaschelli's Garlic Bread
Thursday (drama): Emeril's Rib-eye, new potato and portobello kabobs, salad
Friday: Ina Garten's lobster mac and cheese, broccoli
Saturday lunch: Healthier taco salad
Saturday dinner (music recitals): Out
Sunday lunch: ??
Sunday dinner: Burgers, homemade buns, chips, fruit, veggies

If anyone has any wonderful ideas for an Eagle Scout gift, I'm all ears. Help! Please. :)

Have a great, and yummy, week.

{ing} Life May 24, 2013

noreply@blogger.com (Mom24) — Fri, 24 May 2013 14:16:00 +0000

{thinking} Thinking about what to do this weekend. We had a getaway planned, one we planned (and paid for, no refunds), months ago, but now Jacob's not 100% and I can't decide what to do. Do we cancel the weekend entirely? Push it and go tonight, accepting that he's not feeling well, reasoning that he can not feel well here or there; except that it's a whole lot different to not feel well in your own bed vs. a sleeping bag on the ground and temps in the low 40s at night and in the mornings? Wait and see? Forfeit tonight and hope he's better in the morning and set out then?

{blessed} Jason's birthday was this week. I really, really love that kid. He has been such a huge blessing in my life. Not only for who he is and the love and joy he brings me, but also because he helped me find my purpose in my life, there's nothing that would be more fulfilling for me than to be a mom. As he was leaving on his birthday he said, "thanks for having me". So thankful I did. My life and so many others' lives are so much better for him being in this world.

{thankful} First of all I'm thankful to be feeling better. whispering here, but it's been 9 days or so since I've had a problem, and I'm cautiously optimistic. I'm also very thankful for my new washing machine. Love it! It handles everything, I think the clothes seem cleaner and none of the concerns I had regarding front loaders seem to have come true. Plus, it seems like it's much easier to keep up with the laundry. I don't end up with those days where the pile of dirty clothes could reach the ceiling. I don't know if that's because it's a larger capacity, though my old one was pretty large as well, or if it's the novelty of a new one and I'm still in a honeymoon period or whatever, but I'll take it!

{hoping} We get to have a good weekend, and, yes, I'll admit it, I'm hoping we do get to go away. I'm also hoping the kids have fun at school today. It's their Fantastic Fun Day, which is a day spent outside playing at all kinds of stations, including many water stations. Today it's in the 40s, cloudy and windy. Not the kind of weather you really want to be outside in, let alone wet outside.

{overwhelming} I'm pretty blessed. Right now the only thing that's truly overwhelming is trying to decide if we're going or not. If we are, I have tons of preparation to do, if we're not I don't want to do it all and have to undo it.

{dreaming} Of summer. One more week of school and work then on to summer. I am so looking forward to it! I love the break in routine and always look forward to that, though this year it will wait a while, the kids have recitals/performances over each of the next three weekends, so we'll obviously still be going to lessons, practicing, etc. for all of that. Not having homework, work and a school schedule will be a much welcome change though. At first I though we'd go completely low key this summer, but then I read an idea where someone said they try to play one fun day each week, with something different on that day. I like that idea, I think I'll try to incorporate that into our summer plans.

{reading} I've been terrible! With being sick so much (and having Netflix), my reading has gone by the wayside. I'm looking forward to getting back to it, hopefully this weekend. I've got Porch Lights by Dorothy Benton Frank out of the library as well as a couple of other books. I've got an unused B&N gift card, I'm definitely ready to get back to reading.

{excited} For a long weekend with my family. Even if we don't go away it's going to be lovely.

{working} On being more present. It's way too easy to get lost in myself, I want to work on that. I'm hoping to use this weekend to reconnect and do things together as a family. Mark and I have been sick so long it's easy to fall into a habit of everyone doing their own thing while mom or dad lay in bed. Working on changing that and practicing being actively plugged in together again.

{praying} Lately I pray a lot for victims, the Oklahoma tragedy literally took my breath away. I'm praying for Rebekah, she's back in Athens in her apartment and I not only miss her like crazy I'm praying that this next phase of her life is everything she'd like it to be. I'm also praying that God will help me be who he wants me to be, I've definitely got some things I need to work on, praying that He'll help me get there.

{cooking} It's been a pretty good week around here cooking-wise. You can imagine it's been a bit hit or miss lately with how much I've been sick, then Mark and Rebekah were sick, then I was sick...you get the picture. Anyway, with a week where I was 100%, it was good to get back to normal. The southwestern chicken salads were a huge hit, so much so that we've decided to try and have a salad night once a week during the summer. Dance night, normally a difficult night, was a breeze with honey sesame chicken in the slow cooker and rice in the rice cooker. As a bonus Jacob and Julianna took the leftovers twice in their lunches, making packing their lunches extra easy. I volunteered to send in some food for Fantastic Fun Day volunteers and teachers, I made a great salad I hadn't made in a while, Caesar Chicken Pasta Salad. While I was at it anyway, we had it for dinner last night and, surprisingly to me, it was a big hit with the kids; so much so they wanted it in their lunches today. Finally, I got around to making Mark's pie (I'm buying/making him a pie a month for his Christmas present this year.) I made a Lemon Meringue Ice Cream pie in a toasted pecan crust. Truly awesome! All four of us enjoyed it a lot. I subbed in a lemon curd recipe from Gourmet magazine because the reviews of the lemon curd one the original were mixed, but we loved everything about it, I highly recommend this recipe. As a bonus it's gluten-free, always nice to have. in your repertoire.

She Said, He Said

noreply@blogger.com (Mom24) — Thu, 23 May 2013 12:30:00 +0000

I stole this from Michelle at Big Blueberry Eyes, I loved seeing what her children, Kayla and Lucas had to say and was curious how Jacob and Julianna would answer. I wasn't sure how well it would work, they're quite a bit older than Michelle's kids, but it was still fun for me and definitely enlightening. Julianna's answers in purple, Jacob's in blue.

What is something your mom always says to you?
Julianna's answer was funny and spot on, but a little embarrassing to her so she asked me not to post it.

I love you. (I was going to say "practice".)

What makes your mom happy?
When we put our clothes away without being asked.

When we do work that needs done unvoluntarily. (He meant voluntarily.)

What makes your mom sad?
When I'm sick.

When bad things happen in the world. (Boston Marathon bombing, Sandy Hook)

How does your mom make you laugh?
You make me laugh when you laugh.

Corny jokes on my napkins at lunch.

What was your mom like as a child?
Umm...she was beautiful, 'cause I've seen pictures.

Human, um, afraid of snakes and she still is.

How old is your mom?
46
47

How tall is your mom?
I don't know! Five foot something, five foot ten.
5' 10"
(Funny, I'm really 5' 3")

What is your mom's favorite thing to do?
Spend time with her family at Creekside.

Have fun, do stuff with us.

What does your mom do when you're not around?
Go on dates with Dad.

Take care of kids that aren't us.

If your mom became famous, what would it be for?
You'd have your own tv show where you give people tips on how to live their life and give recipes and stuff.

Cooking?

What is your mom really good at?
Cooking

Cooking

What is your mom not very good at?
Handling snakes

Um, um, um, I don't know.

What does your mom do for a job?
Being a great mom.

Take care of kids that aren't us.

What is your mom's favorite food?
Chicken parmesan

Rebekah's chicken parmesan.
(Rebekah and Jason had just made me dinner for my birthday, chicken parmesan, and it was delicious!)

What makes you proud of your mom?
When she gives me advice when I have problems at school.

She understands that I like spending Tuesday nights with Dad. (Julianna's dance night, they hang out together.)

What do you and your mom do together?
Sometimes we'll play American Girl Doll game together.

Play board games, Settlers of Cataan.

How are you and your mom the same?
You loved dance when you were a little kid and now I like dance.

We both like country music.

How are you and your mom different?
We're different because I like a different kind of music that I don't think you like (Disney).

I like rock and roll and alternative and you don't like most of that.

How do you know your mom loves you?
I know my mom loves me because even when she's mad at me she still tucks me in at night/kisses me or in the morning still kisses me goodbye.

She's nice to us.

Where is your mom's favorite place to go?
Grandma and Grandpa's.

Home (our home)

All in all, I was pretty impressed with how accurate most of their answers were. Insightful too. Also, I learned a little bit about my parenting, I want to work on doing more with each of them. I enjoyed doing this with them a lot and wanted to get it down to capture it so I'll remember this snapshot in time with my youngest two kidlets.

May 20 Meal Plan

noreply@blogger.com (Mom24) — Mon, 20 May 2013 00:59:00 +0000

I'll keep this short and sweet otherwise you might kill me from the repetition. I've been sick, really sick, again. It's my 4th bout of it in 17 days so I'm a little leery of declaring myself completely over it, but now that I'm better, Mark is sick with something different. We took Rebekah back to school, we all miss her. Goodness, do I ever say anything new anymore? Anywho, I can complain about the weather! It's 8:30 at night and 84 degrees in my house. Yuck!

Okay, I'm done. Basically life is good, just a little less shiny and pretty than we'd like it to be right now. In the meantime life goes on and hopefully here's what we'll be having to eat this week:

Monday (piano): southwestern chopped salad--salad greens, sw chicken, cheese, tomato, black olives, sw ranch, corn

Tuesday (dance): Honey sesame chicken, rice,veggie

Wednesday: Pork chops, rice pilaf, green beans

Thursday (drama): Rosemary grilled chicken w/orange dipping sauce, brown butter apricot and pine nut rice, veggie

Ugh! Just realized that's three meals of rice this week. Oh well, c'est la vie.

Hopefully we have good plans for next weekend, we'll have to see if everyone gets, and stays, healthy enough to make them happen, also if the weather cooperates.

Hope life's good in your corner of the Universe.