tgif!

Long time no post, eh?  I thought I’d brush the cobwebs off the blog and post a few random things while Kat eats her breakfast.

• I logged into WordPress today to see that it looks completely different!  I wanted to update the look of the blog, I think it’ll have to wait a couple of days while I click through and explore.
• floor update - it’s taken longer than we thought.  Jason cut his thumb on a coping saw and it slowed him down considerably.  We’re in the home stretch though, only the laundry room left!
• after the laundry room floor is done, we’re going to take a break (a forced break, actually - Jason has business out of town and then we have family coming into town for Kat’s birthday), but then we’ll move on to tiling the bathrooms.
• speaking of Kat’s birthday, because we took on the flooring projects, her bedroom won’t be done by her birthday.  I feel terribly guilty about that.
• I got Jag a little fish tank for his room; he’s loving it so far!  He picked out all the decor… red gravel, a skull for the fish to swim through/hide in and a few little plants.  He’s got a reddish purplish male betta and 3 rasboras in there now, and we’re thinking of maybe adding a couple of cory cats soon.  He’s been good about feeding them everyday without me asking.
• I’ve been feeling yucky for a long time now, and finally found out this week it’s vertigo.  Not fun.
• Kat’s had a verbal explosion lately.  She’s singing, counting to 10 and pretty much saying everything she needs or wants to say.  It’s funny to finally understand what’s going on in that little mind of hers - she’s quite a character!
• I’m in a photography slump, one of those where I don’t feel like taking pictures, and the few pictures that I do take, I’m really unhappy with.  I know this is pretty typical for all photographers (this isn’t the first time I’ve been through it), but it’s always so painful for me.  I’m ready to get back into the swing of things and feel good about my work again!  I’m thinking of updating my version of Photoshop and investing in Lightroom in hopes of a fresh start.
• I’m addicted to the Packrat application on Facebook.  I’m too embarrassed to say how much time I’ve wasted playing at night after the kids are in bed.
• I bought this as part of Kat’s birthday gift, and it is just sooooo cute.  Seriously.  I almost hope she doesn’t like it so I can keep it for myself.  (also, I bought it from that very site and the transaction was flawless)

That’s all I’ve got for now - it took me over an hour to type just that with all the interruptions.  More later!  (and email replies as well, I’m WEEKS behind - I’m so sorry!)

time outs and stuff

I saw these time out spots on Jon & Kate Plus 8 (anyone else addicted to that show?  does it not make you feel like you’re on vacation with your own family?) and thought they were a brilliant idea.  And so cute!  I’ve been debating whether I’d buy one or try to make my own - finally just broke down this morning and bought one (the pink spot for Kat since we’re getting to the point of needing it).  How dopey that I’m so excited about a time out rug!  ;-P

Totally uneventful weekend here.  Didn’t get much of anything done (Kat’s pink paint is still in the can, sitting on the counter in the laundry room - doh!), but I guess we got some rest.  Here’s the thing - I h-a-t-e sitting around doing nothing on the weekends.  It drives me crazy, I want to be out doing STUFF.  Whatever, anything - just something, ya know?  Jason, on the other hand, wants to lay low and relax after a long week at work.  So we sort of clash every weekend.  We usually compromise and spend one day out and one day in, but I’ll admit that our one day in usually leaves me really frustrated and grumpy.  I’m thinking I should find a part time job one day a week - maybe I should look into assisting wedding photographers on Saturdays or something.  I don’t even care about getting paid (although play money would be nice), I just want to do something fun!

Enough of that blather…

I’m going to go watch my DVR’ed Scott Baio is 46 & Pregnant, then find some motivation to get stuff down around the house this afternoon!

groceries

Oy.  I’ve been putting off grocery shopping all week, trying to avoid having to take both kids at the same time.  Really, I could take them both and it’d be okay.  I’d want to come home and drink heavily, but I could do it.  I just dreeeeeaaaaad it.  Anyway, we’re getting so low on things - I really just need to suck it up and do it.

As usual, I’m having trouble coming up with menu ideas.  We usually get ourselves in ruts, where we feel like we’re eating the same things all the time.  At one point I tried to come up with a “meal database” spreadsheet where I listed meals, their approx cost, their preparation time and level of ease, and then rated each.  I got a good start on it and kept it up for several weeks, but let it die and now it’s terribly out of date.  Too much work.  I need to do something simple like a recipe box and index cards I guess.

So I need a chicken meal idea.  Doesn’t necessarily need to be really easy or inexpensive.  Just good.  Got anything to share?

On to other news - today is the last weekday of Jag’s winter break!  I don’t know if I’m happy or sad.  He’s already complaining that he doesn’t want to go back.  I wish he hadn’t already picked up the anti-school attitude.  He’s got a long road ahead, it sure would be easier if he had a brighter outlook on it.  I’ve been trying to encourage him to enjoy school, but he says the schoolwork is boring and the only parts of the day he enjoys is recess and his once-a-week music class (he’s been asking a lot of questions about Mozart lately - he’s really into learning about historical figures).  I’m not sure what to do about that, honestly.  Part of me wonders if I should be homeschooling him to keep him challenged, but that is such a huge task to take on.  I’m not sure I’m cut out for it.  I just don’t know…  :-/

Anyway - hopefully we won’t hear too much whining this weekend about school starting back on Monday and we’ll be able to enjoy ourselves.  I’ve definitely decided on the dark strawberry pink for Kat’s room, so I hope to get that paint and some white paint for her dresser so I can get started on that.  I also think I may have found some bedding that will work in our master, I hope to double check with the paint chip and then make that purchase.  It’ll be good to have a pretty bed again!  I haven’t had anything but random quilts and white sheets on the bed since Jag sprayed my wheat-colored damask duvet cover with bleach cleaner 2 years ago.  Little stinker!

(I’ve been rambling on about decor type stuff for a number of entries now - how boring!)

Oh, something interesting (to me!)… I was taking the tree down last night and found a lizard living in the star on top!  Poor little guy was so dehydrated and weak.  I waited for Jason to get home to remove him, but it was too cold to put him back outside so we put him in Jag’s little terrarium to keep him inside until it warms up this weekend.  We put a little water in last night and put him under the under-cabinet lighting in the kitchen to warm him up a bit and he looks so much better this morning.  The kids are having fun watching him.

back to real life

It seems like it’s been forever since I’ve been home alone with the kids while Jason worked.

 Jag had half a day on the 14th, which also happened to be the day his Aunt Sara came into town for a weekend visit.  At the last minute, the kids and I hopped into the car and followed her home to Orlando to surprise my Mom.  Poor Mom had been so down about not seeing the kids since April, and especially not seeing them around the holidays.  The surprise was awesome.  There’s video of it on my dropshots account, if you have that link.  I think it’s on my Elsewhere page, if not I’ll come back and link it in the comments of this entry.

So anyway, we were in Orlando for the whole week.  Got home Friday night (drove the entire 9.5 hours with 2 kids all by myself - go me!!), then Saturday morning Jason’s Dad came in for a weekend visit.  Jason was off work Sat, Sun, Mon, Tue and Wednesday.  So today is his first day back to work, and therefore my first day back to real life in *counting on fingers* two weeks!  Eeep!

So far so good, Jag’s only been sent to his room once so far, and Kat’s already down for her nap.

For those of you who watch my flickr stream, I’ve mentioned briefly in my private photos but I’ll mention it here as well for those who don’t have access - I took all my kids and family photos private last week.  Honestly, the orkut thing never really bothered me much.  It was just annoying.  But then I had a large, nationwide builder steal my photos, make and frame prints, and hang them in their model homes - all without asking and without paying for them.  They were my personal, family photos - photos of the kids, of me and Jason, even of my Mom and her husband.  That really upset me.  I’m still dealing with that.  And then I was alerted to a flickr account last week where someone had stolen and used pics of Jag in their stream.  That was pretty much the last straw.  All along I’ve been very aware that this sort of thing could happen, and I took the orkut stuff in stride.  But I just got tired of worrying about it.  Tired of wondering who else was stealing my pictures that hadn’t been caught yet.  Flickr’s not as much fun when you keep everything private, but I feel good about my decision.  Maybe later down the road when there’s not much activity on my stream, I can start sharing publicly again and keep a low profile so as to not attract the thieves.

In the meantime, I will still share some here because the general public on flickr does not know about this blog.  I’ve got a smaller number of people checking in, and yes I’m googable, but I’m just not as easily found here.  However, there will always be more shared for family and friends on flickr.  If you are reading and would like access, and you aren’t a weirdo thief, then leave a comment here with the link to your flickr stream and I’ll add you as a friend.  (or you can flickr mail me if you’d feel more comfortable)

Moving on… lots of other stuff going on too.  For instance, we cancelled our Costa Rica trip.  No fun, eh?  Two reasons.  One, Kat is still nursing, and recently she’s picked up the nursing a good bit (not really sure why)… we don’t feel good about the idea of weaning her for a vacation since she’s only 19 months old.  And two, we decided that although we’d love to go to Costa Rica one day, we’d rather go to Peru first.  And March isn’t the time to go to Peru.  We’ll have to schedule that for another time, maybe next year during the summer months.  So now we’re trying to figure out what we’ll do with our March time.  Jag has 3 weeks off school for spring break, and I refuse to sit home those entire three weeks.  I’m thinking of maybe renting a cabin in Maggie Valley for a week and inviting my family to come stay with us (hopefully Jason could make it too, but we recently found out that one of his employees might be leaving soon so we’re not counting on it - I guess another good reason we decided against Costa Rica, eh?)

This is getting long.  I still have plenty more to say but I’m sure nobody wants to read it all in one entry, so hopefully I’ll remember to post more later.  Hope you all had a Merry Christmas and you have a Happy New Year!

Oh, a couple of pics!

 

all before 10am

(well, it was before 10am when I started typing this anyway… )

I’ve washed the sheets, washed the dishes and bought groceries already this morning.  Woohoo for a good night’s sleep (the first in AGES) and some strong coffee!  ;-P

Still trying to get back into the hang of life again.  Some of us are still sick.  One or more of us has been sick at all times since before Halloween, it’s getting old.  I can’t wait for us all to be healthy again so we can enjoy the cool weather and the holidays.

Speaking of holidays, I’m trudging along.  Jag and I put the tree up over the holiday weekend.  He was such a huge help!  I totally underestimated him, he did at least 1/3rd of putting the tree up (fake tree again this year, one day I’ll talk Jason into a real one) and put on more than half of the ornaments.  Granted, he likes to bunch the ornaments up into spots along the middle of the tree still but he had fun and it got the job done (I went back and only moved a few, didn’t want him to notice I moved them but did want some ornaments on other parts of the tree, hehe).

I took a new route with the tree this year.  I didn’t get out any of the old family ornaments.  I feel kinda lousy about it, but the majority of them are breakable and I just didn’t want to fret about the kids touching (which is inevitable).  So I bought all new, unbreakable ornaments.  Lots of plastic, wood and paper. I did the whole thing in a theme of red, white and silver (with the occasional green ornament tossed in for good measure).  It’s actually quite pretty, if I do say so myself.  ;-)  And it’s GREAT not having to worry about little fingers exploring the decor!

Also bought all new stockings and tree skirt.  I get bored with them so easily, so buying new is a bad habit of mine.  Most of the trim (silks, candles, etc) can be re-used no matter what my theme, but my stockings are usually retired every 2 years or so.  This year I got cute, felt craft-style from Macy’s (I think they were from the Martha Stewart line) - ya know, for the $10 I spent on them each (on sale), they’re really very nice.  Just as good of quality as my Pottery Barn stockings from the past years, if not better.  Honestly!  (and this after I went all over town, spent 4 hours going into 7 or 8 stores looking for stockings - I saw a lot of shapes, styles, colors and qualities)

Also finally broke down and got something to count down Christmas with.  I’ve been looking at advent calendars for ages, of all different types.  The little wooden houses, the calendar looking kinds you hang on the wall, etc.  Ended up going with a Kaethe Kruse advent stocking garland that was probably over priced, but is just so so darling.  I hung it up on the mantel already and the kids love looking at all the different little stockings.  Now I just need to go out and get some little treats to stuff in them!  Jag can’t wait for December 1st!

Oh and speaking of my mantel - I’m almost done.  I went a bit overboard this year, it looks kind of overdone but I still love it.  I’ll post a photo when I’m done, still need to add my “G” monogram letter on the mirror and still need to decide if I’m going to add lights or just leave it as greenery, berries and candles.

Welp, that’s enough rambling about my Christmas decorations.  I’ll spare you the long list of things I still need to do.  ;-P

One of these days I’ll type up an update on the kids.  They’re doing really well, of course with the typical challenges, but still - really well.

i’m around

I haven’t disappeared totally yet.  Don’t want to give up on blogging.  I’m just always putting it off and then I forget what I was going to blog about to begin with… and THEN I sort of get out of the habit of blogging so when I do have something to say and I do have a minute to type it up, it seems awkward and forced.

I need to get back into the habit again.

Lots of nothing going on here, at least nothing big.  We’ve all been sick, Halloween came and went, Thanksgiving is around the corner (didn’t realize just how soon until a few days ago - eep!), lots of school stuff going on with Jag (meetings, field trips, etc) and Christmas is creeping up on us too.

I have to say, I’m really stoked about Christmas.  As usual, I have lots of big ideas and probably won’t find the time to make them happen.  Last year I gave up on big ideas without even trying.  Made my life easy, but it wasn’t very much fun.  So this year I’ll drive myself crazy trying to make things happen.  We’ll see how it goes.

I’m also feeling very overwhelmed by a cluttered, disorganized house.  I have so many things I want to do and I don’t know where to start.  At this point, *everything* has become priority - our dysfunctional laundry/mud room, the messy master suite, the shove-stuff-where-ever-it-fits kitchen cabinets, the kids’ toys that seem to be reproducing in the closets at night and are slowly leaking out onto the floors of every room…

I don’t know about you, but when I’m disorganized, I feel like I can’t *do* anything.  I put projects off until x, y and z are cleaned and out of the way.  So to get to my Christmas projects, I feel the need to get my house straight.

Argh.  Overwhelmed.

Yeah, anyway - still planning on blogging, just need to make myself do it.  Watch for more posts soon!

how did i get here?

Yesterday, my house was mostly clean.  I was almost caught up on laundry.  My kids were healthy and happy.  I had a plan for dinner.  Life was good!

Then somehow, sometime during the day yesterday, it all turned upside down.  I can’t pinpoint exactly when it started - whether it was when Kat suddenly got unusually grouchy over some blocks.  Or when I put off emptying the dishwasher so I could watch The Hills.  When I spent way too long picking up a few things at the grocery store.  Or when Jason came home late again.

Nope, I don’t know where exactly the dominoes started to fall, but I’m sitting here amidst the wreckage.  A baby with a fever, a Son who went to bed too late, woke up tired and therefore fought me over every detail of getting ready this morning, a husband who got grouchy over his morning routine being messed with and a kitchen with a day and a half’s worth of stinky dishes piled up.  I’m overwhelmed.

In a situation like this, I take extreme measures to make myslf feel better so that running far far away doesn’t seem so tempting.  This morning it’s Illy coffee and Decadent Peanut Butter Pie.  A mama’s gotta do what a mama’s gotta do to keep her sanity, knowwhatImean?

more than you ever wanted to know about my meal plans

Saw this over at Carol’s and thought it was a neat idea, so I’m participating for the first time this week. 

I have been writing out my weekly menus for years now.  It’s one of those things I once hated, but that I’ve grown to almost like now, and something I completely rely on to get my weekly shopping done (I’d be lost without my “plan!”).  I started it as a way to save money; I’d sit down once a week with the grocery store ads and plan meals around what was on sale that week, then write up my grocery list accordingly.  I don’t shop the sales fliers anymore, simply because I’ve started shopping the dreaded Walmart Superstore for groceries (I really don’t like to, but they are significantly cheaper than other local stores, they have a larger selection and they’re a lot closer than most other stores so I save in gas as well - I usually prefer to give my money to the little guys but in this case it’s a big enough difference in cost that I can’t justify doing it any other way < / defensive tangent >) .

My ultimate goal for mealtime is that we all sit down as a family and eat the same thing - something delicious, easy to prepare and healthy.  If you’re a Mom, especially of picky eaters, you know that’s way easier said than done.  Add in a kid with food allergies, and it’s practically impossible to please everyone.  So, as a result, my weekly menus are all over the place, a combination of adult type meals for Jason and myself (kids get something different those nights) and totally kid-friendly meals. 

I’m not a gourmet chef and I don’t pretend to play one on tv.  I like to cook, but I don’t LOVE to cook.  I only go all out when I’m in the mood.  So you’ll see a nice mix of instant-mix type foods and home-cooked from scratch stuff.

Also, I should add - I have a general idea of which days we might eat each meal, but since my moods change and things come up, we rarely eat the meal specifically planned for that day.  I just list them on the fridge each week on a small dry erase board, and I mark them off as we eat them.  Whatever is left is what I choose from each afternoon when I start thinking about what’s for dinner.

Oh, and I almost always plan for a “bonus meal” each week.  Couple of reasons:  1)  it gives me an extra day incase I can’t get to the store on time the following week, and 2) incase one of the pre-planned meals doesn’t work out for whatever reason (if we’re too busy to make it, we’re not in the mood for it, if I realize at the last minute that I forgot an important ingredient or if an important ingredient goes bad before I expected it too, etc).  I almost always make sure the ingredients in my bonus meal are ones that don’t perish quickly so that if we don’t use it this week, we can save it for next week.

I JUST sat down this morning and wrote out my menu for the next week, so I’m prepared.  I haven’t shopped yet, that’s in my afternoon plan.

Monday:  all-beef hot dogs, baked french fries, Annie’s white cheddar shells & cheese

Tuesday:  meatloaf, steamed broccoli w/ cheese sauce and mashed potatoes  (meatloaf made w/ seasoning envelope, steam-in-the-bag broccoli, microwaved velveeta and pre-made mashed potatoes in a tub - fancy, eh?)

Wednesday:  chili w/ beans  (another seasoning envelope - served w/ saltines or bread)

Thursday:  chicken & peppers pasta (new recipe I’m trying from the Kraft Foods website - I’ll post later if it’s good)

Friday:  garlic steak w/ roasted red potatoes and steamed green beans (the seasoning for the garlic steak is another new recipe from Kraft Foods, potatoes are just chopped and tossed w/ fresh garlic, salt, pepper and olive oil and then roasted in the oven, green beans are steam-in-the-bag)

Saturday:  balsamic rosemary pork chops, herbed rice and steamed mixed veggies (the balsamic rosemary is my very favorite marinade/sauce recipe - I’ll post it later, the rice is instant and veggies are steam-in-the-bag)

Sunday:  “pigs in a blanket” (just halved hot dogs rolled in canned crescent rolls w/ slices of cheese if that’s what you like - totally for the kids, but I love them too, hehe)  still undecided on a side dish, I usually have extras of veggies, fries, pasta and rice mixes, etc, so I’ll pick one later

Bonus meal:  homemade pizzas  (hubby makes his own crust, if I can get persuade him to let me share his secrets with the world, I’ll post his recipe, otherwise all the usual ingredients:  organic jarred sauce, Boar’s Head pepperoni, mozz cheese, peppers and onions for the grown-ups)

just because i know you’re all sitting on the edges of your seats…

I got my online grocery order and hallelujah!  It was perfect!

I had started to worry since I hadn’t received a call about substitutions or out of stock items.  In the past that usually meant big mistakes.  But just as I was getting the kids together to go pick up the order, the personal shopper called to say the shop was done with no problems and she was about to ring it up.  The nicest man load my perfectly bagged groceries into the back of the van for me, the kids and I drove it home whilst happyily singing and laughing, then I unloaded to find that everything was there and exactly as I’d ordered it.

Oh happy day!  No stress, no kids screaming in Walmart, no frustration at the wrong sized apple juice in my bag… just quick and painless groceries.  (And I swear, I do not work for the grocery store - I’m just REALLY relieved!)

Speaking of food… did anyone else happen to catch Jessica Seinfeld on Oprah yesterday?  I watched the show and then read some reviews of Jessica’s book, and I have to say I’m intrigued.  I ordered a copy from Amazon, I’m going to give this whole pureed vegetable thing a whirl.

i hate buying my groceries online

For me, online grocery shopping can be a real pain in the butt.  For one, it’s way more expensive.  I pay the fee for the “personal shopper,” and I’m not there to physically see and choose the best deals.  And two, they always get it wrong.  Always always always.  There are either things missing (they were out of stock and didn’t bother to substitute or call to ask my preference), or the substitutions are all wrong (for example, I order a 16 oz sour cream because I need that much for a recipe, and they substitute with an 8 oz).  One time Jason picked up the order for me, drove all the way home and when I looked in the bags I found someone else’s entire order!

All that said, I stupidly just placed an online order.  I know.  I know I know I know.  I am so asking it.  But you know what?  I’d also be asking for it if I tried to take two antsy children into Walmart.  It’s a lose/lose and I decided that today, I’d rather lose in the privacy of my own home and car.  Oh crap, I just realized I forgot the beer…

Welp, here’s hoping Lowes Foods to Go gets it right today.