Granny's Cobbler

Sometimes, the simplest thing is the best thing. In the case of cobbler, that's definitely true. My Granny's cobbler recipe is so simple that I have it in my head. Which, if you're a mom, have a husband, a job, a business, or a blog, you have a pretty good idea of how hard it is to store much of anything in there. But it's that simple. And you can use whatever fruit you like. Our favorite is peach, but berries (blackberries, raspberries, strawberries) work great too.

With a ton of these beautiful babies around, I'm whipping up a cobbler with half strawberries, half rhubarb.

Try it for yourself and let me know what you think.

Granny’s Cobbler

1 stick butter

1 c flour

1 c sugar

¾ c milk

2 tsp baking powder

pinch of salt

2 c fruit (trimmed and/or sliced if needed), sweetened to taste

Melt butter in 8”x8” or 9”x9” pan. Mix together flour, sugar, milk, salt, baking powder, and milk until just combined. Pour into baking dish on top of melted butter. Spoon sweetened fruit evenly on top of batter. Bake at 350 for 45-55 minutes until golden brown.

Can be doubled in a 9"x12" pan. I only use one and a half sticks (3/4 cup) of butter when doubling this recipe. You can even use just one stick if you're worried about calories. But with all that fruit, this is practically salad, right? You may need to increase the  baking time by 5-10 minutes. Just keep an eye on it. 

Happy Summer! 

This is Seven

In many, many ways, I am happy about my kids growing up. It is wonderful, in fact, to see them learning all kinds of new things--how to cook, how to find their way through the neighborhood to a friend's house, doing their own laundry, not needing help in the bathroom, sleeping through the whole night, making some money in their latest business venture, figuring out the things that interest and inspire them. Yet, at many of the milestones we approach--a birthday, a new stage, the end of a school year, the "first time ever...," I still get teary and think about how everything goes by so fast. 

So, here I am again with only a few days left as the mom of a seven year old. There is something special about being seven, I think. To me, it’s the last bit of being a little kid. While I love the perks of having big kids, I know I’m going to miss a whole lot about the little kid stage. Perhaps because I’ve heard too much about eight year old girls being teen-like, staring to mature quickly, getting an attitude, I am more anxious for my baby girl (and me) in this new stage than I was for my boys. Plus, this is the last time I’ll ever have a little kid. I’m going to miss seven.

Seven is the last tiny bit of baby lisp I can hear when you talk. Just barely. It will be gone in a moment. 

Seven is knowing the very best day means playing all afternoon with the neighbor, eating cheeseburgers and s’mores for dinner, and having a sleepover with your brothers in the fort you made.

Seven is calling at least one day out of every week "the best day ever." 

Seven is still, just barely, small enough for me to pick you up when you sit on the countertop and wrap your arms around my neck or fall asleep in the car on the way home from the park. 

Seven is still (mostly) unfamiliar with mean girls, brand name clothes, cliques, or body image issues. Seven doesn't wonder if she's too fat or too tall or too hairy or too anything. She is magical, powerful, and amazing. 

Seven knows how to do a pull-up on the monkey bars and can make it all the way accross without stopping. Seven knows how to do a cartwheel, dribble a soccer ball, and do 18 different jump rope tricks. Seven alwyas runs as fast as she can. 

Seven is having a boy for a best friend without wondering why the parents of the six girls coming to your sleepover might not want him there. 

Seven is crawling into our bed to snuggle when you wake up and insisting Daddy carry you down the stairs on his back every single morning. 

Seven is knowing you want to be an artist and a spy and a mom someday, but only of adopted kids, since you know how that works, and that IS. NOT. HAPPENING. 

Seven is writing a letter to the tooth fairy asking her name, what she does with the teeth she collects, and what she likes best about her job. 

Seven is knowing how to read but still wanting to sit on my lap and be read to every night before bed--Pete the Cat, Froggy, Pinkalicious, Junie B, and the very best--Piggie and Elephant. 

Seven is a neon colored bandaid on each knee. All spring, summer, and fall.  

Seven is finding a friend (a worm, caterlippar, or ant) to hold as we hike through the woods. The whole way. 

Seven is telling me every night at bedtime, "Good night. Don't let the bedbugs bite. And if they do, whack 'em with your shoe." 

Seven is being my baby just a minute more. 

Lessons I Learned at Target Tonight

After dinner tonight, I kissed my husband and told him I was going out for a while. When I've been cooped up too long because of the cold or had an especially frustrating day with the kids, I escape to one of my favorite mini-vacation spots for a couple hours--the craft store, the library, or Target. Tonight, I headed straight to Target. 

Like the old lady I am, I got the only hot, caffeine-free, sweet treat I could think of at the in-house Starbucks--a vanilla steamed milk, and started wandering the aisles to warm my frozen body and soothe my frazzled nerves. I can wander Target for two hours or more, admiring the cute pillows, the newest kitchen towels, the perfectly co-ordinated seasonal offerings. And tonight I learned a few things too:

1. Target is just a teeny-tiny bit obnoxious. They have their swimwear out. Along with goggles, flippers, and floaties. Really? With the East buried in so much snow they couldn't get to their local Target with a sled and a half-dozen Huskies (do Husky dogs pull sleds? I dunno, but they look like they should), and us going on our third day of city-wide school cancellations due to snow and below zero temperatures, I just can't even. Really, Target? 

2. I cannot be held responsible for what I will do when presented with a whole display of discounted Post-it notes. There is no reasoning or resisting. They will come home with me. All the Post-its.

3. If I can tell, from two aisles away, in a matter of 15 seconds, that your child is sick, cranky, and up past his bedtime, you should be able to tell too. Go home. Nothing good comes from a toddler in Target past 9 PM. 

4. As addictions and coping mechanisms go, I don't think Target is such a bad deal. I mean, I walked out with a little linen envy--those pillows I always admire still on the shelf. But for $38.49--an hour and a half of quiet, calming decompression, plus a gallon of milk, paper clips, plastic wrap, and a lovely assortment of Post-it notes--not a bad deal at all. 

A Valentine Poem for my Love

When we are old,
we shall live by the ocean
and go to Friday matinees of the ballet
with the homeschool kids
and other white-haired folk.

It will be a beautiful life,
As beautiful as the one we have now.
Except we will drink mimosas
on a weekday morning
and no one will care.

Happy Valentines Day! 

One Perfect Day

So today was a fairly typical--and good--day. So was yesterday. Wednesday? Not so much. We had to do math. Everyone was cranky. The Internet was broken. Everyone was super cranky. I didn't win the Powerball. OK, so I didn't actually play the Powerball. Still disappointing, no?

But Tuesday? Oh, my goodness....Tuesday....it was a day to remember. This was Tuesday:

My desk is clean. My kitchen is clean. Dinner is simmering on the stove. I put away the last of the Christmas decorations today. (Yes, I know it’s February. Hushhushhush.) We did (almost) everything I had planned for school today, except the child who read Maze Runner in its entirety between 10 AM and 6 PM today quietly in his room. (I’m so totally OK with that.) Two of my children are playing. Outside. Like, with each other. As in, not with anything electronic. As in, actual playing and not pretending to play while beating each other with foam swords. There is laundry yet to fold, but even so, I can see only three possible explanations for this situation.

1. Some less-than-once-a-millennium astrological alignment of planets, moons, stars and asteroids is happening today.
2. A powerful sorcerer decided I deserve some good karma (or maybe just that my hair looks nice) and placed a kick-ass love/kindness/cleanliness/peace/happiness spell over me and my home today.
3. The poo is about to hit the fan, and I should enjoy this while it lasts instead of asking why or folding laundry.

If this were a multiple choice test, I’d pick A. Or maybe B. We’re not gonna talk about C. I’m just going to enjoy this while it lasts. And give thanks to the universe that I can’t really complain about my life any day, but some days….oh, some days are so magical, they just need to be written down to remember forever. 

The more things change...

...the more things change. It's really the only thing we can count on, isn't it? I mean, people say death and taxes, but I like to look on the bright side and say that the only thing we can count on is change. And boy, how things have changed for our little family in the last couple of years.

We certainly aren't settled into our new normal of homeschooling days, along with big kid and tween issues.  Yet, a lot has changed since the days of babies and toddlers needing feeding/wiping/dressing/helping, and the barely-holding-it-together couple under the strain of three preschoolers, a budget as tight as a vice, and a to do list driving us to collapse into bed after midnight laundry folding frenzies.

I sometimes wonder how I haven't exactly figured out how to be an adult in the last 20 years. I mean, what have I been doing with my time? But looking back, I barely had time to go to the bathroom. Much less figure out the meaning of life, organize my entire house and become a screaming success at my life's calling (if I even knew what that was). And I'm not feeling too bad about that at the moment. (I do have the other kind of moments, but not right now.)

You know those cool (or lame, whatever) glitter time out jars some moms make for their kids? (Or am I just spending way too much time on Pinterest?) Well, if you haven't seen one, it's a jar with some sort of liquid and glitter in it. Kid gets in trouble, mom shakes the jar, kid has to sit in time out until glitter settles to the bottom so they have time to calm down. OK, this explanation is way too long for the analogy I'm trying to draw here...

But really, life isn't like the glitter time out jar. It's not like the murky, glittery lack of clarity clears itself up in a matter of 12 minutes. It is clearing up, and the murk is settling to the bottom. I mean, I was thinking today of how little memory I have of when my babies were infants. The exhaustion, the overwhelming responsibility and confusion, the exhaustion....it's like a huge cloud covers my memories.

And even at "my age," it's not all clear. But ya know what? It's a heck of a lot clearer than it was when my kiddos were babies. In fact, looking back at the things I was writing just eighteen months ago, it's clearer now than it was then. And even if it's still not clear, even if it never gets totally clear, it's still all glitter. It's still all beauty, totally worth waiting for, and so amazingly delightful to look at. 

Our First Day of School

It is an exciting time at our house. Tomorrow is the first day of school. We didn't go to bed early. We didn't set an alarm. We didn't lay out outfits with new jeans or tennis shoes. We didn't fill backpacks with new pencils, notebooks, glue sticks and crayons. We didn't pack lunch boxes with peanut butter sandwiches and Cheetos. Tomorrow we start our first day of home school.

My excitement is mixed with so many other emotions. Worry—will I be able to do this? Manage three kids, be home with them all day, stay organized enough, not loose my mind? Sadness—missing the regular and easy contact with our school friends (mine too), including the amazing teachers our kids had, who I became friends with. Relief—no testing anxiety to manage, no bullying to worry about, no calls to teachers and principals asking why the heck my kid is crying over whatever craziness happened at school that day.

I have no doubt the kids are having some mixed emotions too, but I am so grateful that they all three said, "I can't wait for school to start tomorrow, Mom." Not one single sigh when I laid out before them my plan for the week. Not a hint of whine in a single voice when I reminded there would be no Minecraft from 8 to 3. I know I'm the adult, but either by instinct or by chance, they seem to be letting me take it easy on this one. And however it's happening, I am grateful. 

Vacation Packing

We are going on our second ever family trip to the beach this year. Together with another family, we have rented a beach house so the packing part is a little different than packing for a hotel stay. And by different I mean more complicated. Vastly. At least for the organizationally impaired like me.

So while I've been making lists of things to pack, things to cook, things to ask the other mom, things to purchase, things to remember....I decided it would be a good idea to make individual packing lists for each kid so that he or she can A) pack their own *@&^#$ stuff and B) learn to pack effectively for themselves, a skill my husband seems to have bypassed entirely in his upbringing. No offense to my dear mother-in-law, but it is impossible for my husband to travel for work or pleasure to any location without a nearby Walmart, or he will undoubtedly end up hungry, unshaven, unwashed, unkempt, and commando within 24 hours of his arrival.

For the clothes, I plan to have the kids put each of their complete outfits in a gallon size ziplock bag. This will hopefully help them get dressed each morning without wails of, "Moooooooom, I can't find my underwear!!!!!" Hopefully, it will also mean that we have agreed ahead of time on their fashion choices and will avoid at least one potential conflict during our trip. (Not that I usually care if my daughter wears her yellow striped dress with floral turquoise leggings and an orange sweater.)

Of course, I will need to supervise and double-check their efforts, but I am hoping the skills they will learn and the slightly lightened to-do list for myself will make it worthwhile nonetheless. One small note: while some may find it unnecessary, being the mom of a girl who loves shoes and clothes as much as her mama, I created gender specific lists. I'm sure the need for this is something my husband would like to point out as a shortcoming of my upbringing, but this is my blog so too bad. Besides, I'm pretty sure my mom scares him. Hee hee.....

Oh wait, one MORE thing: these lists are for a one week vacation at a house where we can do laundry as necessary. I tried to balance taking as little stuff as we could get away with along with my desire to do as little work as possible, seeing as it's my vacation and all. I included enough clothes to get through most of the week, expecting to do a couple of loads of laundry before heading home again.

Boys' Beach Packing List

_____Casual shorts, t-shirt, underwear

_____Casual shorts, t-shirt, underwear

_____Casual shorts, t-shirt, underwear

_____Casual shorts, t-shirt, underwear

_____Nice shorts, polo or nice t-shirt, underwear

_____Nice shorts, polo, underwear

_____T-shirt (2 extras)

_____Socks (2 pair)

_____Pajamas (shorts--2 pair)

_____Hoodie

_____Swimming trunks (2-3 pair)

_____Swimming shirt (only if you want one)

_____Your beach towel

_____Flip flops

_____Tennis shoes

_____Beach shoes

_____Toothbrush

_____One small stuffed animal

_____Journal and pencil

_____Books to read (4-5)

_____Sunglasses

_____Hat and/or sun visor

Girl's Beach Packing List

_____Shorts/skort, shirt and underwear

_____Shorts/skort, shirt and underwear

_____Shorts, shirt and underwear

_____Shorts, shirt and underwear

_____Capris, shirt and underwear

_____Casual dress and underwear

_____Casual dress and underwear

_____Nicer dress (like for dinner at a restaurant) and underwear

_____Swimming suits (2-3)

_____Cover-up (2)

_____Socks (2 pair)

_____Pajamas or nightgown (2)

_____Hoodie

_____Flip flops

_____Tennis shoes

_____Beach shoes

_____Beach towel

_____Brush and comb

_____Toothbrush

_____Headbands (2-3)

_____Ponytail holders (10-12)

_____Journal, pencils and crayons

_____One small stuffed animal

_____Books (4-5)

_____Sunglasses

_____Hat and/or sun visor

Any glaring omissions? Horribly overpacking? (So says my husband--HA!) Setting my sights way too high? I really think the nine and almost-seven year olds can handle most of this after I show them what I expect. I am fully aware that most of the packing for the five year old will involve her pointing to what she likes and me putting what she really needs into the bag. Oh well. You gotta start somewhere.

Pot Roast Success

I consider myself a pretty good cook. I'm no gourmet, but my husband has mostly liked everything I've ever made except that one horrible Buffalo chicken sandwich experiment in 2001. No recipe intimidates me, and no ingredient scares me off. But....I've never been so good at pot roast. I've been told over and over how simple it is, but it never turns out as tender or flavorful as I want. Until now.

I have seen several versions of the Three Envelope Pot Roast on Pinterest and intended to try it out. Yet, did I take the recipe or a list of ingredients to the grocery store with me? NO, of course not. So, I am standing in the spice isle trying to figure out which three packets of seasoning I'm supposed to use for the Three Envelope Pot Roast, and I'm getting nowhere. Due to my aging and overwhelmed brain, the best I could do was a brown gravy mix and au jus mix. I knew there was a third, but looking at my options, none of them made sense.

Arriving home, I discovered several different versions. Some using au jus. Some using brown gravy. Several using other things I had not brought home from the grocery. So, I decided to use what I had. I put it all in my slow cooker, turned it to low for about 9 hours and hoped for the best.

It turned out the most tender, flavorful, delicious pot roast I have every had. Not just made, but HAD. And I'm going to share it with you. I'm nice like that.

I ended up serving it on Hawaiian rolls with a slice of provolone cheese and a little squirt of horseradish. HOLY YUM. It would be equally as good next to a pile of real homemade mashed potatoes. Or some lovely egg noodles.

My Favorite Pot Roast

1 large onion (a sweet one is nice, but whatever you have)
1 chuck roast (3-4 lbs)
1 packet of au jus mix
1 packet of brown gravy mix
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup salsa or picante sauce
1 cup Italian dressing

Chop onion and place in bottom of slow cooker. Place roast on top of onions. Mix remaining ingredients in a bowl until seasonings are combined and pour over roast. Cook on low for 8-10 hours. When you shove a fork in it and twist, it should fall apart. If it doesn't, cook a while longer.

Taste. And die of bliss. I warned you.

Getting Ready for Summer Weekend

I am still in my pajamas. At 10 AM on a Saturday. It feels delightful and odd all at once. The last ten  weeks worth of Saturday mornings have been filled with early risings, frantic searches for shin pads and soccer jerseys, and sitting in alternately sweltering and swampy fields watching children chase a ball back and forth.

We had strawberry pie for breakfast. Additionally, there are 21 jars of jam and mounds of sliced berries awaiting the top of waffles or shortcake in the freezer, made from the 34 pounds of berries we picked over the last week.

My sweet children, who would normally be absorbed in mind-rotting Saturday morning TV, are upstairs playing school together (in other words, reading to each other) so they can earn points for our library's summer reading program. They have declared it a no-screen weekend so that they can get a jump on everyone else who is hoping to win the grand prize iPad.

My vegetables are glistening in the morning sun, drenched from yesterday's rain, soaking up the rays so fast I feel like if I just hold still enough I can see them growing. The middle child and I picked and shelled the spring peas earlier this week, and broccoli is ready to harvest.

Yes, summer is upon us. There are three more slow but bittersweet days of school left for the kids. Slow because the real work of the year has been done for over a week now. Sad and sweet because next year the schools are changing, and they won't be in the same building together. Plus, a whole new group of students will be joining them both making all of us anxious. But that's another story.

While the kids have declared a no-screen weekend, I am declaring it Get Ready for Summer Weekend. I am doing some cleaning--as if it will last past bedtime on Sunday. I am doing some cooking. Some things to prepare now and tuck away in the freezer so I won't be forced to drag myself out of the pool and into the kitchen to worry about dinner every afternoon. I am getting the kids summer supplies ready. (More on that later.) We are all going to sit down together and make a list of the things we must do this summer.

With three kids and a mama, if everyone comes up with two or three things they really want to do this summer, we will have plenty to keep us busy until fall. The kids usually pick one thing that I just can't accommodate at the moment, like "I want to go Australia."  Um yeah, you and me both, kiddo. But generally, their picks are a lot more simple than I expect. Things that are not expensive or difficult to do but I wouldn't have thought of because I was planning something much more extravagant.

My crazy, over-the-top mama mind says, "Plan a virtual trip to a different country each week, cook foods from that country, and get a book on the country from the library to read each day." Their youthful wisdom says, "Make popsicles and invite our friends over to have some with us. Then run around the yard chasing each other," or "Find some worms."

It reminds me how important it is to ask them. Our summer go so fast, our school year is so busy, that I want our short, precious time together to be memorable to them, to include the things that are important to them, to be relaxed and carefree like summer should be. And I am so much less stressed out about making it meaningful when I use their ideas instead of mine.

I love summer. 

Memories

It's strange how suddenly a crystal clear memory of a time you haven't thought of in months or years will suddenly come rushing back for no good reason.

Like the elderly man at the garage sale who gave my younger boy the money clip he had been admiring. I offered him a dollar for it, and of course he turned around and gave the dollar to Aiden so he would have something to put in his money clip.

His rough, nobby hands, his generosity, his unhurried way of talking to the children brought me right back to moments with my Grandpa pulling out his wallet to hand us a $20 dollar bill for our latest report card. That poor man at the garage sale probably wondered if it was safe to let those children go with the crazy lady who couldn't seem to stop crying over a dollar.

He's been gone 20 years, and yet there are plenty of moments when I can feel him around me, reminding me of the kind of person he expects me to be, encouraging me to be the mama he knows I can be, to nudge me in the direction I know I should be going.

Mommyhood Gratitude

Like everyone else, I have some days when I feel more competent at accomplishing all of the things I am responsible for and some days that I feel less competent. Usually, I feel pretty competent. Lately, I've had quite a few less-competent feeling days in a row. I was grousing (is that really a word? well, let's say for today that it is) to myself that I wish I could sit on the couch all day (who am I kidding? I meant all week), watch daytime TV and eat a whole bag of Devils Food Donettes.

But instead I have these three children who require food. And bathing. And car pools. And clean laundry. And picking up after. And permission slips signed. And on and on. But tonight, as I was brushing my teeth, scowling at myself in the mirror, and wondering where all those wrinkles came from, I had the thought that perhaps I am not burdened by the requirement to pull myself up off the couch and take care of my children. Instead, I am blessed by presence of a reason not to wallow in my self-doubt.

It doesn't really matter if I feel like it; these children need raised. And it's not going to wait until next week when I may or may not feel like opening another bag of donuts and plopping down in front of Rachel Ray and Dr. Oz.

There's only going to be one chance to give my goofy, grinning eight-year-old boy the Harry Potter birthday party of his dreams so I better get to crafting, shopping and cooking sooner rather than later. There's only going to be a few more months to have my darling four-year-old tell me about her preschool day in her baby-like lisp before she has grown out of it for good, so I better sit up and listen right now. There is only a small window when a sweet six-year-old boy will want to sit on my lap and read me a story with his newly discovered skills before reading starts to happen all in his head and before he outgrows my lap all together, so I best pay attention to it right now while I can.

Parenting is hard work and exhausting, but is there anything better? Is there anything more worth it? No, of course not. And even more, it is a reason to get moving and do what I know needs to be done. To be more than I want to be on some days. To be a better person than I think I am.

Marriage

Marriage is so weird sometimes. There are those couples that you look at and wonder, "How in the heck do they hold it together? They clearly don't like each other one bit." There are the other couples who seem perfectly content and shock the heck out of you when you hear they're splitting up. I've got some friends of both kinds. Being one of the couples that seemed perfectly happy and who then separated for a while, I know we caused some confusion, curiosity, questions, plenty murmurs of gossip. Probably some more of the same when our "trial separation" ended in a reconciliation, which according to our therapist never happens. (I asked him why they call it a "trail" then, and he said to make everyone feel better about not giving up too soon. How sad.)

So, I often wonder what it is that keeps those couples who I think should be teetering on the brink of divorce together, and what keeps those who suffer pain, or just indifference or frustration or loneliness, in secret from throwing in the matrimonial towel. Of course, there's the kids. Some of us have school age kids now, but a whole load of our friends are still on the exhausted, confused, never-ending, no light/only tunnel baby-toddler train. While you are amazed every single day that your heart can feel such love for these tiny beings that didn't even exist a couple years ago, you also wonder if you can really live your whole life like this--no sleep, no free time, no relaxing, no sex, no meaningful conversation, no intimacy with your spouse. Was that just me? Well, it might not have been you, but I know it wasn't just me. There's a whole bunch of us out there.

So, some of it is the kids. Some people stay together for the kids, to give them the image we have in our head of a family, but also because if parenting with a partner so hard, we wonder how could we possibly do it on our own. But it's not just the kids. Some stay together out of our fear of failing. How could I tell my friends and my parents and my children that I have failed at this most basic, most important role of adulthood? Some stay because the thought of being alone is even worse than the thought of being how we are even if that isn't very good. Some stay because two households are more expensive than one, not to mention lawyers and child support and such.

I think many of us stay simply out of commitment. And I don't just mean the vows we said--we promised to always stay together no matter what, and that's what we're going to do even if we're miserable doing it. No, that's not what I'm talking about. Commitment to me means making choices every day to love each other and move toward one another instead of away.

It's the way, when I am feeling completely unlovable and uninterested in talking, touching or being near anyone, my husband says the goofiest thing he can think of to make me smile anyway.

It's the way, when even that doesn't work, he takes the kids to another part of the house and plays a quiet game with them without making a big deal about the fact that he's doing me a favor.

It's the way I've learned to stop throwing a fit when he's two hours late because that's just how late he's going to be pretty much every time, and instead ask if he had a good time.

It's how he, even thought he sleeps later than me about 95% of the time, gets the coffee maker all ready before he goes to bed so it's one less thing I have to do while getting three kids ready for school in the morning.

It's making his favorite meal instead of the kids' favorites.

It's taking a few minutes away from chatting with the girls at a party to sit next to each other and hold hands.

It's stopping at the bar to see him and his buddies and hear about how they played in their "big game," when all I want to do is go home and curl up in bed with my book and fuzzy socks.

It's to sitting together to watch a movie (or browse the Internet on our laptops while sitting on the couch next to each other) instead of falling into bed like feel like doing while he watches it alone.

So, maybe that really is the commitment we made in those vows, and I'm just now figuring out what they really meant. They said, "for richer or poorer, in sickness and in health, forsaking all others, as long as we shall live." But it also means in crankiness and joy, in loneliness and connectedness, in youth and old age, when surrounded by chaos and amidst the calm. It means, not just fidelity, but choosing each other over the kids or friends or work or personal interests. It means choosing to move closer instead of away every chance we get.

Menu Planning Monday 1/9-1/15/2012

This weekend I finally felt like cooking again. During the holidays, there's way too much that I HAVE to cook, either as gifts or family tradition or whatever. I was pretty burned out on the whole cooking thing. Plus we had enough leftovers to feed a small country. Finally they're all outta here, and thanks to Pinterest (you have heard of Pinterest, haven't you? More later, I'm sure) there were several new recipes I wanted to try. Chicken breasts and pork butt were on sale last week, two things I find hard to resist, so I got some of both--about 8 lb. of chicken and a 7 lb. of pork. I probably have enough food in my house for two or three weeks.

However, this week I will be getting my kitchen ready for a semi-remodeling--we're getting new floors and some cabinets where we didn't have any so far--so I had to get a jump start to have time to clean everything out. So, before a day-by-day meal plan, I'll explain what I made on Sunday and how I did kind of a bulk cooking day to make this week easier.

I made Chicken Gyros, Broccoli Cheese Soup, Pulled Pork, and Goat Cheese Quiche with Hash Brown Crust. It was a busy day, but well worth it. First, I started with the pork because it had to cook the longest. I use a variation of my girl PW, otherwise known as Ree Drummond, the Pioneer Woman. We're tight. OK, not really. I have ea bit of a girl crush on her. More like I want to trade lives with her. I mean, who wouldn't want her hunka hunka burnin' love cowboy husband AND seemingly unlimited shopping budget that allows for $300 blouses she later decides she doesn't really like and gives away on her blog AND living on a gorgeous ranch with two houses in the country AND homeschooling her four beautiful babies. Just sayin.... Anyways, a la PW I put my giant pulled pork in my brand new giant slow cooker on a bed of onions with  some salt, pepper, crushed red pepper and Dr. Pepper. Yes, you heard right, Dr. Pepper. Turn that baby on low and let her go for a good 10 hours. I have enough pork for three meals, at least one of pulled pork BBQ sandwiches and another of pulled pork tacos.

Next, I started on the Chicken Gyros from Bitchin' Kitchen.

Yummalicious, no? First the marinade, then the tzatziki sauce. We love tzatziki around here. Mmmm...

While the chicken marinated, I worked on the broccolii cheese soup like Panera's. I had picked up a couple heads of broccoli that were on sale and searched online for a recipe using fresh broccoli and real cheese, not processed cheese product. :/ This imitation is what popped up first. http://www.food.com/recipe/Panera-Broccoli-Cheese-Soup-150384   It looked yummy and easy to make. It was both. I will never make a single batch of this recipe again. Double for sure, maybe triple, from now on.

                                           

Last up was Martha's Martha's Goat Cheese Quiche with Hash Brown Crust. I've made quiche a lot, but this was a little different with the hash brown crust and the goat cheese and looked scrumptious.

So with all of this yummy goodness already prepared, planning the meals for the week is pretty easy.

Day #1: Chicken gyros and broccoli cheese soup. All that was left to do for the gyros was bake the chicken, chop some tomatoes and onions and warm the pitas. I also just gently reheated the soup, and dinner was on the table in a flash. Plus, there's some left over for lunches later in the week.

Day #2: Goat cheese quiche (sliced and reheated in the microwave), tossed salad and zucchini bread that I made in the summer and retrieved from the freezer for dinner.

Day #3: Chicken fried rice and soy braised bok choy. I will share with you my own personal recipe for fried rice later this week.

Day #4: So, have I mentioned Pinterest yet? Well, I found this AM-A-ZING looking recipe from Kayotic Kitchen for Country Club Chicken. I can't wait to try it.

 

Day #5: Leftover night since with all this cooking we will have lots of them and my stove is not going to be accessible.

Day #6: Pizza night. Again, stove, floor, kitchen, blah, blah, blah....

Day #7: We've been invited to dinner with some friends, and since the kitchen will surely be pure chaos, I'm all in.

I share my recipes on Organizing Junkie's Menu Planning Monday.

Someone should have warned us

NEWS FLASH: Adulthood is hard.

I remember when I was a kid--all kinds of rules, someone always bossing me around, watching my little sister all the time while my parents worked, grounded again, not allowed to go out on a Friday night, no cable on our TV, limited to ten minutes phone calls with my friends since we didn't have call waiting, forced to do chores like the laundry and dishes, refused stylish new shoes because they cost as much as my mom made in a day.

I couldn't wait to be an adult. Making my own decision. Spending my money however I want. Going out with whoever I want. Talking on the phone as much as I want. Staying out as late as I want. Sitting on my couch eating chips whenever I want.

Yeah, right. That's not what being an adult is like. That's what college is like. Maybe. If you're lucky. I was really lucky, and I didn't have to worry too much about bills or other responsibilities as a college student, got to do mostly what I wanted to all the time as long as I went to class and got good grades. Even a part-time job didn't infringe too much on the whole doing-whatever-I-want thing.

But we all know that's not real adulthood. College is just a tease. It's a lot of fun, but it only lasts four short years. Well, more like six and a half short years if you are my husband, but I digress.

Lately adulthood has been smacking me around more than usual, and I don't like it one bit. Nothing major really. Sometimes my list of things to do just seems insurmountable. Positively endless. With no time for any fun. Who doesn't feel like that? The house, the kids, the business, the family (as in parents, siblings, grandparents, etc.), an empty rental house that needs work, insurance claims to follow up on, unexpected bills to manage, time for hair appointment, nail appointment, and dress shopping to make this middle-aged body appear party-ready, a holiday dinner for my hubby's office, cookie baking, adopt-a-family gift buying/wrapping/delivering, preschool craft projects, field trips, Christmas shopping, holiday parties, crafting homemade Christmas gifts, wrapping, parties. I got overwhelmed. Which is probably much more a result of who I am than anything out there in the world because I know it's like that for all of us. Like I said, who doesn't have all of that plus a job and their own craziness?

Nonetheless, it's put me in a funk, and since I like to appear to the world as a confident, capable, I've-got-this-all-under-control kind of woman, I tend to keep to myself a bit more when I'm feeling like that. It's also why I haven't so much been writing lately. I'm still writing in my head, but when I start to put it down in print it sounds all whiny and bitchy and petty to me so I delete it. So, if I sound whiny and bitchy and petty and you don't like that, you might want to come back in a week or so. I hope to be over it by then. But I am also hoping that if I write it out, I can kick off the funk and be back to my usual perky (yeah, go ahead--laugh; I can't hear you anyway) self.

My mind is much the same as my to do list--rambling on and on--but I'm going to stop there for now. Despite the craziness that is my life, I have so so so much to be thankful for. And I'll take my crazy life over someone else's any day. That's not to say this is the end of the "adulthood sucks" theme. More soon. Promise.

Menu Planning Monday Nov 14-20

Easy, peasy family favorites this week since I have a full schedule and want to save some time and energy to gear up for the upcoming holiday cooking frenzy. I am SO excited. I know, it's shocking that I am excited about food, but really, I am. Sorry if this week is a little heavy on the sandwiches, but I promise I'll make up for it in Thanksgiving leftover yumminess and holiday baking goodies in the coming weeks.

Day #1: Smoked sausage and peppers on hoagy rolls with baked potatoes.

Day #2: Slow cooker pulled pork sandwiches, fried green tomatoes and cole slaw.

Day #3: Tuna melts and roasted butternut squash. I am not even sure how the butternut squash in my pantry got there. Did my mother leave it when she came to watch the kids? Did my mother-in-law leave it when she visited and I was (blessed to be) out of town? Did my neighbor drop off her extras? Who knows? Who cares? I have delicious butternut squash that I will roast with a sinful amount of butter and brown sugar and call it a vegetable.

Day #4: Meatball subs with chips and dip. Yes, I occasionally serve chips and dip. For real.

Day #5: English muffin pizzas. It's pizza night, and I've realized I like pizza from our favorite pizza shop a lot more if I don't have it every single week so I've been trying to mix things up with something homemade at least every other week. Just so happens English muffins were on sale last week, and I have some pepperoni kicking around in my fridge with nothing planned for it.

Day #6: Beef with Broccoli. I can't wait to try this recipe from Rainy Day Gal. It looks soooooooo yummy. I love love love Chinese food, but since we have been eating less and less restaurant food, when we do have it, it tends to not agree with me so much. I am hopeful this is yummy but somewhat healthier version of one of my favorites. http://rainydaygal.com/2011/02/03/beef-with-broccoli/

Day #7: Black bean soup with cornbread.

I share my menus on Organizing Junkie's Menu Planning Monday.

Good Old Days

Oh man, how I miss the good old days sometimes.

When "fall back" actually meant an extra hour of sleep.

When a night out with friends didn't require more pre-planning than a phone call and usually ended closer to sun-up than sun-down.

When taking a "nap" with my husband on a Sunday afternoon didn't require closing the door, locking it, covering the keyhole with a towel in case anyone got curious about what we were doing in there.

When Saturday mornings meant garage sale shopping with my best friend instead of soccer, judo, gymnastics and the Home Depot craft of the month.

When I drove a compact car.

When no one talked to me during Wheel of Fortune.

When getting sick meant lying on the couch and resting.

When I could have a phone conversation longer than 43 seconds without being interrupted.

When I could eat a whole meal without getting out of my chair.

When making a pot of chili meant we'd have leftovers to eat for lunch the whole week.

When the DVR (OK, then it was a VCR) wasn't full of Power Rangers, My Little Pony, Strawberry Shortcake, and Ben 10: Ultimate Alien.

When a roll of toilet paper lasted more than one day.

When I could clean the house and it would stay clean for a couple of weeks instead of a couple of minutes.

When sneezing didn't mean changing my panties.

When there were only three loads of laundry to do each week.

When white carpet seemed like a good idea.

But then this tiny little girl with big brown eyes wraps her arms around my waist and says, "I wub you, Mommy." And a little boy smiles at me and says, "We have 23 minutes left to snuggle before bedtime, Mommy." And a bigger boy says, "Mom, I'm so glad you got to come on my field trip today. It was nice to have you there." And I forget all about the old days.

Until someone yells from the bathroom, "MOOOOOOOOM, I need HEEEEEEELP!"

Menu Planning Monday Nov 7-13

Tying to get back on the menu planning....er, horse, so to speak. Thanks to a little big batch cooking the weekend before, last week worked out just fine without a plan, but I know it won't be pretty if I try to do that for long. So, here's my plan for this week.

Day #1: I knew today I needed something fast and easy, that I could throw on the table in just a few minutes time since we'd be getting home late, have to to eat dinner, and clean up before I had an appointment later in the evening. Crock Pot to the rescue! Except Monday mornings are extra busy too, so it had to be something I could throw in the slow cooker super-fast, with no prep and preferably no recipe and no need to go rummaging through my cabinet for long, lost spices. It took me five minutes to put together Cheesy Chicken and Stuffing Casserole. I usually do it in the oven, but it worked great in the Crock Pot. Plus, the kids loved. it.

Cheesy Chicken and Stuffing Casserole

2-3 lbs boneless, skinless chicken breast
1 can cream soup (mushroom or chicken work equally well)
1 8 oz package shredded cheese (I like cheddar, but your favorite would work fine)
1 box Stove Top Stuffing chicken flavor, prepared according to package directions

Place chicken in the bottom of slow cooker. Spread soup on top. Sprinkle with cheese. Spoon stuffing on top. Cook on low 8 hours.

Day 2: Cashew Chicken with Noodles. I'm using a recipe from my new favorite magazine, Simple & Delicious, Easy Meals for Busy People. It has a ton of simple, fast and yummy-looking recipes in it. There are several recipes I can't wait to try.

Day #3: The weather report says our beautiful Indian summer is going to end later this week, and it will be replaced with chilly rain. I think that calls for Sherried Tomato Soup and Cheesy Garlic Bread, both from my very favorite blog in the whole world, The Pioneer Woman.


Day #4: One evening this week is parent-teacher conference night. We usually get a sitter so we aren't rushed or stressed out worrying that the kids are running rampant in the halls, torturing the parents or teachers with their noise. Since we have a sitter, we also make a date night of it. I'm thinking sushi...mmmmm..... yummmm.... Anyway, for the children it will be fish and macaroni and cheese.

Day #5: Sauteed sausage and peppers with oven roasted vegetables.

Day #6: Some friends invited us to pot luck this weekend so I am planning to bring my oft-requested apple crisp. I love pot luck!

Day #7: Taco Roll-ups from Family Fun Magazine. Don't they look delicious?


I share my menus on Organizing Junkie's Menu Planning Monday.

Dream Big Dreams

A week or so ago I mentioned how extremely blessed I am to have some amazing women in my life who keep my attitude positive, my spirit uplifted and my vision inspired. It is one of the best things about the work I do, and I am thankful for it every day. That same week, I got to attend a weekend retreat with some of the top women in our company. I was blown away. So much to learn. So overwhelming to be in the presence of such grace, knowledge, experience, beauty.

I learned a lot over the course of the weekend, many related to business, some related specifically to our business, but many things just about life and how to live a better one. In one of the classes, our teacher talked about dreaming. Not the kind you do when you are asleep. The kind you do about your hopes, your future, your life. She asked us to think about what a kindergartner says when you ask them what they want to be when they grow up. I have a kindergartner (and a preschooler and a third grader) so this was easy for me. They say something like this: "I want to be an astronaut and an artist and a firefighter and a ballet dancer and a singer and a book writer and the President."

What does a kid graduating from college say when you ask them what they want to be when they grow up? What does a 30-something or 40-something say when you ask them what they want to be when they grow up? "Uhhhhhhhhhhh....." Sad, isn't it? At some point we all had a whole bunch of dreams for our life, but somewhere along the way, many of us forgot them or gave up on them. We lost our dream mechanism-our ability to dream big dreams for our future, to see our lives as an amazing possibility, to plan for wonderful things to happen.

So she gave us an assignment. Write down 100 dreams you have for your life. One hundred. Oh, that's easy, I thought. Umm hmm. Try it. No really, I want you to try it. You don't have to show anyone. You don't have to do it all in one day. You don't have to go out and buy a special notebook to write your list in. They don't have to be written in complete sentences. But I would love for you to get busy, take a few quiet minutes for the next few days, and make your list. It's harder than it sounds. I thought I had plenty of dreams. There are lots of things I want to do before my time is up. But honestly, I got stuck around #26. I kept thinking and pushed through to #53. Now I'm stuck again. GASP! I have some more work to do.

Another thing that surprised me was what I think my list says about me. I had very few things on there about me. I want to do lots of traveling and take classes on a bunch of stuff, but beyond that, what showed up on my list over and over are the things I want for the ones I love. Now, it's not that I didn't think I cared about those things or that I think it's bad to want things for your family. I just thought when given the freedom to dream about what I want in my life, that my list would be a lot more about me. In fact, for the next 47 things I need to write down, I am going to try harder to focus on the things I dream for myself. That's the idea, after all.

I was also pleasantly surprised that a whole lot of my dreams were about learning things, going places, and having new experiences. Yes, I am super thrifty, some might even say cheep. I am the coupon queen. I never met a screaming deal I didn't like. The little voice in the back of my mind always said that I would go a little crazy with the budget if I had the opportunity and an unlimited budget. So I was pleased to see that while I could spend a whole lot of dough on doing things, it's not likely I would be piling up a mountain of stylish sweaters, slamming shoes and sparkly jewelry as I secretly feared I would if given the opportunity.

There are two more things I loved about the list. First, not everything was out of reach. Some things on my list I could be and should be working on right now. What am I waiting for? When I grow up? Well, NEWS FLASH, SISTER!! I AM A GROWN UP! I just need to get to it! And the last thing I love about my list is that it reminds me that who I am is very much who I have always been. Once you get past #26, you have to really open up your mind and think some thoughts you probably haven't thought in a good long while. But the same ones are still in there, just like they were when you were fourteen.  It's kinda nice.

I'm still at work on my list. I've given myself only a few more days to finish it up no matter what it takes. I'd love to hear if you start writing your own list and what you learn from it. And remember to DREAM BIG, my friends. 

Confused Mom's Guide to Surviving Halloween

It's Halloween. There will be no meal plan today. Enough said.

I did spend a whole lotta time this weekend doing some big batch cooking for the freezer, including enough Skyline to last us until Christmas, several pounds of meatballs, some yummy steamed Asian dumplings with shrimp and pork for both my mom and us, and a giant vat of cauliflower soup.  So, we're not going to starve this week. Just whatever happens to call out to me when I open the refrigerator is what it will be.

Plus, this weekend was Halloween Eve and Halloween Eve Eve and Halloween Eve Eve Eve. You get the idea. So there were parties, festivals, last minute costume touch-ups, even later-minute costume repairs, baking, goodie bag making, school party preparations, and much excitement, anticipation and sugar-loading. I will neither confirm nor deny which of these activities were my idea. It is irrelevant whose idea they were since just because one has an idea weeks and weeks before Halloween does not determine how much one will enjoy that activity when the day actually arrives.

So here is my Official Confused Mom's Guide to Halloween. Probably too late to help anyone out this year, but next year please remember to THINK before your volunteer.

1. DO NOT MAKE HALLOWEEN COSTUMES. I always make my kids' Halloween costumes. It's this weird obsession I have. Probably some psychosis my mother saddled me with during my childhood. Every year, the kids tell me what they want to be, and I start planning. It always seems simple enough in August. In September. Even on October 8th. I mean seriously, how hard could it be to paint a box silver, cut some holes in it, paint on a few buttons and call yourself a robot? That is until your eight-year-old informs you that his robot will have buttons that you can push and a speaker that he can talk into that makes him sound like a real robot. What do you mean, you can't do that MOM??? Tears, pouting, sulking. Not what I call Halloween spirit. 
2. DO NOT VOLUNTEER TO BE ROOM MOM. Those PTA people always make room mom sound like such as easy job. "You will have a helper for each party and several people who are happy to send in all the supplies you will need so you don't have to actually do anything--just call and coordinate everyone and show up at the party." That is until you have eight moms calling your house campaigning to be the one picked to come to the party as your helper so they can see their little darling dressed up in his Spider Man costume along with seven other mini-Spider Men plus fifteen more sugar-hyped kindergartners. Oh, and those lovely people whose volunteer form said they'd be happy to send things for the party, even the one who dotted her "i"s with a smiley face, growl at you over the phone, "Well, how many do you need?" and sigh, "I guess I can do that," when you tell her you will need 24 Capri Suns please.
3. DO NOT MAKE GOODIE BAGS. I know they are cute. I know it is fun to buy candy so you can have the leftovers all for yourself. I know those glow-in-the-dark skull rings are only a buck for 48 at the dollar store and are just so darn irresistible. But the other moms want to do the same thing with all that crap that you do--toss it in the trash. So don't waste your money, time, or gas. 
4. TAKE A BEVERAGE. An insulated travel coffee mug filled with coffee looks exactly like an insulated travel coffee mug filled with hot cider and rum. Or hot chocolate and peppermint schnapps. Or orange juice and vodka. Who's ready for trick-or-treating now? I AM! I AM!!!
5. HAVE A CANDY STORAGE/DISPOSAL/HIDING/DISTRIBUTION plan. Most likely your kids are going to get enough candy to feed a small country for weeks. Mine would not only get sick from eating that much candy, but actually get bored with it waaaaaaaay before it's all gone. So once they have basked in the awesomeness of their haul for a while and had a few pieces, I ask them to pick out their favorite 24 pieces (or however many days it is until Thanksgiving). We put those in a brown lunch bag or ziplock with their name on it, and they get one piece a day until Thanksgiving. The rest I use for.....uh, something else. Yeah.
6. DO NOT LEAVE YOUR COSTUME LYING AROUND. Of course, I say this 78 times to my children before the big day arrives because they like to wear it around, showing everyone who will look how cool their costume is. Leave it lying on the floor and eventually, some part of it will get broken, torn or otherwise damaged. The mom who just made that costume is not going to be happy. More importantly, I am talking about YOUR costume, Mom. Say for example, you peeled your snazzy fake eyelashes off while on your way home from a party and left them stuck on the dashboard of your mom van, you might mistake them for a family of spiders taking up residence in your mom van when you get in it the next morning. You might then pee your pants in fright and in your attempt to escape their viciousness. But only if you are scared of spiders. And haven't had your coffee yet and so cannot tell the difference between spiders and fake eyelashes. And have given birth to three or more children. Just maybe. 
7. DO NOT COOK DINNER. Plan to trick-or-treat with friends, whose house you can hang out at before beggar's night begins so that your friend can make dinner for your kids while you sit quietly in the corner, drinking from your insulated coffee mug, trying to recover from repairing costumes, being room mom and making all those goodie bags.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!