Spring Break – Day 3

Day 3… Hump day.  Most of the day just felt off.

Slept in, but woke up from a weird dream that put me in a funk the rest of the day — like something was wrong, or going to happen.  Just couldn’t shake it until the late afternoon after I posted it on Facebook, and a friend commented, “Just put it in prayer, cause there’s nothing you can do about it.”  So I did, and I instantly felt better.

Went into the office to run a report and send a few emails.  I don’t really like going into work when I’m on vacation.  Kinda defeats the purpose of time off.

Made teriyaki chicken drumsticks (marinated with a bottle of Soy Vay’s Veri Veri Teriyaki that we had in the fridge – not Paleo/Whole30, but at least it’s gone now!) and my favorite food right now, broccoli roasted with garlic & bacon.  For some reason it was extra good this time.  We used a thick cut bacon, which might have been the difference!

I’m sure we did something else, but I don’t remember what.  This was an even lazier day than Tuesday.  Not really like me/us, but I think we really needed the down time and to hang out at home.  I can’t remember the last time we have had this much time off and we’re not traveling!  (For example, see days 1-6 from our Spring Break Road Trip 2011.)

Spring Break – Day 2

Day 2 was pretty chill for us.  I don’t mind lazy days!

• CrossFit at 5am — Juli recommended that I move down from green to blue band for pull-ups.  Eeek!  This is good, but scary!  One step away from being able to working on unassisted pull-ups!
• Made a spinach & mushroom omelet
• Took an hour-long nap starting at 6:30am :)
• Cleaned out the kitchen in preparation for Whole30 in April.  Tossed wheat flour, sugar, and some unmarked containers of grains (soy flour?  masa harina?  They look and smell the same to me — as in, yuck!) and took inventory of what we have, what we need… and made some trail mix with almonds, pepitas (pumpkin seeds), sunflower seeds, coconut chips, and dried cherries & blueberries.
• Watched Hugo – we really liked this movie!  Bubba napped during it though, so he only watched about half!
• Made raspberry honey mustard pretzel dip basted chicken drumsticks
• While Moco was at soccer practice, Bubba and I ran to the store to pick up a few things and get gas for the car
• Watched The Biggest Loser - one of our favorite shows!
• I forgot to mention that I also made a Paleo minestrone on Monday.  I used the linked recipe as a template but made several modifications, but I didn’t write any of it down.  The biggest change is that I used sliced smoked pork sausage as the meat and changed up the veggies based on what we had on hand (carrots, celery, onions, kale, and I don’t remember what else), plus I used the homemade broth that I made from the carcass of the rotisserie chicken from Sam’s Club (so delicious for $4.99!).  It’s probably not technically minestrone without pasta, but whatever.  It was tasty and perfect food for the weird weather we’ve had this week!

Our day in food pix because I’m lame and didn’t take pix of the kids…

11/23: Today I Am Thankful For…

…a Monday evening at home watching America’s Funniest Home Videos with my kids — their laughter is contagious!!!

Moco and Bubba are limited to watching TV on weekend mornings, so this was a rare treat for them.  It is so nice to unwind with my family, cook a good meal, bake some cookies, and snuggle with my babes before they fall asleep.

Tonight we had salmon, using my homemade habanero jelly in a variation of the peach jalapeño salmon, and potatoes au gratin.  I have never actually made potatoes au gratin before, and I was quite pleased.  I didn’t have all the ingredients for any recipe that I found, so I made up my own version with what we had on hand: Yukon gold potatoes, shredded sharp cheddar, shredded Mexican blend cheese, heavy cream, 2% milk, nutmeg, paprika, salt and pepper.  I was very pleased with the outcome, and the flavors blended really well with the salmon!  I also baked a double batch of the big, soft ginger cookies.  I made modifications to this recipe, and while they are still tasty, they aren’t as good as last time.  I used half brown sugar and half white sugar and I didn’t use orange juice like I did the last time.  I’m pretty sure that the white sugar and lack of orange juice are the culprits.  Still soft and tasty but not quite as flavorful as the last time.

Can’t wait for this short work week to be done so we can enjoy our long weekend.  Daddy is technically off this week (university is closed), but he is still working with men’s and women’s basketball.  Moco has school tomorrow but will go to Sherry’s on Wednesday.  I get off Wednesday at 5pm, then we will drive to Iowa for Thanksgiving Day with Grandma Lavera.  We’ll visit with Great Grandma as well.  Daddy has to work Friday afternoon or evening, so we’ll be on the road back to Iowa that morning instead of hitting the Black Friday sales (not like we ever do anyway)!

I’m going to pour myself another glass of milk and a couple warm cookies before bed… hasta mañana!

11/15: Today I Am Thankful For…

…the rain, but only because it’s an excuse to stay inside and cook delicious meals for the week and bake cookies!

Moco, Bubba, and I got our grocery shopping done after a lazy morning (Daddy and Deacon were pheasant hunting) before getting to work on food prep for the week and baking!  I cheated on a gingerbread recipe and used Krusteaz Gingerbread Cake & Cookie Mix, which actually turned out pretty well and saved me a lot of time!  The kids enjoyed cutting out shapes with several of our new fall cookie cutters.

Tonight I cooked up a lot of chicken and ground beef.  Tonight’s supper was white chicken chili with cornbread from The Fresh Market (which has quickly become one of our favorite stores in town with its great food and great service).  This recipe was great and will definitely make a reappearance soon!  I also made a chicken pot pie — I always forget how easy it is to make, especially when I use refrigerated pie crusts, frozen mixed vegetables, and pre-cooked chicken.  I’m also chilling the dough for ginger (not gingerbread!) cookies.  Will have to let you know how those turn out in tomorrow’s post, including the recipe.

So… it was a rather lazy day in our house, and the weekend seemed to go by a little slower than the past few weekends (thank goodness!).  Next weekend will be a busy one, as Uncle Danny, Aunt Lisa, and Cousin Mattie will be here… and I can hardly believe that the weekend after that is Thanksgiving!!!  Where has this year gone?!?!

Halloween Pretzels

Here’s a fairly easy, fun afternoon activity:

• Pretzel rods
• Almond bark or candy wafers
• Sprinkles (we used Wilton’s 6-mix Halloween sprinkles assortment)
• Wax paper

Melt almond bark in Pyrex container (15-30 second intervals) in microwave.  Dip/coat about half of pretzel rod in almond bark.  Apply sprinkles and set pretzel rods on wax paper to cool and set.

Simple, sweet & salty, and sprinkles can be substituted seasonally!  (Just noticed Wilton’s 6-Mix Colorful Leaves Sprinkle Assortment and their array of winter holiday sprinkles… let the holiday season baking begin!)

Another Weekend Bites the Dust

Seriously… where do the weekends go???

I really can’t even remember what we did this weekend, except that we kinda kept to ourselves and hung out as a family as much as we could (read: whenever Daddy wasn’t working).  Daddy worked a LOT this weekend, which was a bummer, but it’s really just a preview to the entire fall football season.  *sigh*

I spent pretty much the entire day today in the kitchen… I’ve been wanting to use up some random items in the cupboards and fridge (masa harina, canned pumpkin, crushed pineapple, brick of cream cheese, bag of mini-marshmallows, box of lemon cake mix), so I did a little research and found some recipes that didn’t require me to buy a lot of other ingredients that I don’t already have on hand.  So… tortillas, pumpkin loaf, cream cheese sugar cookies, taffy apple salad, and lemon pound cake made the baking roster.  And, thanks to Shanelle and her friend Julie for their timely update to their Seven Little Monkeys website for great play dough recipes!

Flour tortillas: Daddy called me in the middle of the day just to tell me the tortillas were “awesome!”

Corn tortillas: I don’t have a tortilla press, but I might need to invest in one now!

Pumpkin loaf: Scroll down to the post by contrarius.  I used pumpkin pie filling instead of pumpkin puree, so it has a lot of spices and was more moist (or is it moister?) than I anticipated.  Took a little longer to bake, but it smelled like an autumn afternoon throughout the apartment.

Cream cheese sugar cookies: We ran out of butter, so I used Crisco and water, which I just happened to have in the cupboard (another random item — I never cook with Crisco!).  Anyhow, the dough was too sticky for rolling out and using cookie cutters.  I don’t know if this is because of the Crisco, but I’ll certainly try the recipe again just to see if that might be the culprit.  The cookies are very tasty (great combination of crunchy outside, soft inside), and I love almond extract for the extra flavor and the amazing scent!

Taffy apple salad: I actually haven’t finished  this one yet.  The ingredients are in the fridge overnight and will be combined in the morning.  I substituted EggBeaters and pecans for the egg and peanuts.  I have had this with Snickers pieces and loved it, so we’ll see how this turns out.

Lemon pound cake: I could eat my weight in Starbucks lemon loaf, and this seems to be a good substitute.  I used half a can of lemon frosting for the glaze… and tried a small slice and was dancing around the kitchen.  Yum!

Play Dough: My mom used to make play dough for her preschool classes, and she makes it for Moco and Bubba when they’re visiting.  I never paid attention to her recipe, so this was my first attempt at home made play dough.  We just happened to have cream of tartar, so Moco and I made four different scents: lemon, mint, chocolate and cinnamon.  It was so quick and easy to do, and the kids loved it.  Bubba wasn’t a fan of the chocolate play dough; he said it smells terrible.  I think it smells like brownie batter…

I also made guacamole this afternoon.  I don’t follow a recipe, I just eyeball and taste as I go.  Avocados, tomatoes, onion (I prefer red), garlic, cilantro, salt, and pepper.  Depending on what I have on hand or what my mood is, I might add fresh jalapenos, green chiles (fresh or roasted), and/or garlic salt.  Daddy and I crushed the guacamole tonight while watching Baseball Tonight on ESPN.   I should also add that I bought the fixings for guacamole on Friday night, but that I night I was too busy enjoying homemade mango margaritas that were to die for.  One fresh, sweet ripe mango cut up into cubes, a little ice, and a mini bottle of Jose Cuervo’s original margarita mix — I was totally in heaven.  Those suckers went down a little too easy, which might be why my recollection of this weekend is a little hazy (I kid… or do I?!).  Anyhow, they were the best margaritas I have ever had and will be sure to include these on my list of habits favorites.

We also cooked up some chicken in the pressure cooker and browned some lean ground beef, which we keep on hand for quick meal prep.  As much as I love to cook, I don’t have the time or energy to cook every night, but we usually have enough on hand that’s prepped and ready to go that I can throw together a yummy meal that the whole family enjoys.  Meal planning is a skill I don’t possess and probably never will… I often dictate meals based on what sounds good to me at the moment — so it’s hard to plan ahead when my mood for food and taste buds change by the minute!

Anyhow, I feel pretty accomplished with a clean kitchen with plenty of options to choose from for each meal, including some sweet treats.  Moco & Bubba are thrilled to have four new kinds of play dough.  Daddy has all his chicken weighed out and portioned into separate containers (he’s on a strict diet/exercise plan for his triathlon training).  The rest of the house is still not as clean as it should be, but I still feel like I accomplished something worthwhile this weekend!!!

What’s a mom to do?

I have to admit, for the past few weeks, I have been excited about leaving the kids with Gamma and Papa in New Mexico for two weeks. I had all these great plans in my head about what to do with all this hard-earned free time (Zumba at the YMCA! Pureeing fruits and vegetables to use in Sneaky Chef and Deceptively Delicious recipes! Trying on clothes without children climbing under dressing room doors — well, at least without MY children doing it! Getting several nights of uninterrupted sleep!), but alas… when I woke up Friday morning knowing that I was headed to the airport in a few hours to return to Illinois, I felt guilty that I had been excited. I got really sad and started to question this decision, calculating how much it would be to just fly them back with me (which promptly snapped me out of the guilt)… But my point is, I started missing them before I had even left.

I was concerned that Bubba was going to have a really hard time with this separation. I can’t even shower without my Bubba insisting “I sit on da mat!” and plopping himself on the bathroom rug until I’m done. I thought Moco would be fine, as she has spent a week away from us (twice!) in the past. She’s a pro at traveling and regularly pouts about not living closer to her grandparents, so she’d savor every minute of being with them, right?! How wrong I was… Moco cried at any thought or mention of my departure for two days straight before I left. As I scooped up the kids to give them hugs and kisses as I was leaving, Moco bawled, and Bubba pushed me away and said “Down! I want down! I yub you! Bye!” and was off to something more exciting than (gasp!) me. I tried to pump up Moco about getting to hang out and play all day, going to Colorado with Gamma and Papa, riding her bike at the park, going to art camp… things that are way more fun than going back to work, like I have to do. I don’t think it worked.

I made sure to tell my mom no less than 50 times to “take good care of my babies” and “don’t let them fall of the lift if you take them hiking on the ski hill” and “don’t let a bear eat them” (I’ll tell that story in another post)… like she’s never been around kids after raising three of her own and influencing hundreds more as a preschool teacher for the past twenty-plus years. My point is, I was missing Moco and Bubba before I left, and I missed them even more as I was leaving.

Being in the airport was weird. No stroller. No diaper changes. No car seat to strap into the window seat. No having to pick up a sippy cup that was purposely dropped and rolled under the seat, my head turned in one direction and my body folded down and contorted in the other, wedged awkwardly and uncomfortably between my seat and the seat in front of me, my hair catching on the tray table latch, all while hissing “We don’t kick the seat in front of us!” and holding down two-year-old crazy feet and feeling the sippy cup roll away again. Nope, none of that. I just sat, and I read. I read at the gate. I read on the plane. I got halfway through The Time Traveler’s Wife in four hours. It would normally take me four months to get that far, and I would have fallen asleep after one page every time I started, and I wouldn’t remember what I was reading anyway. I actually read a book that doesn’t involve fairies or princesses or puppies or trucks! Woot! Woot!

I’m now nearing the 38th hour being away from my kids. I flew from Albuquerque to Chicago O’Hare yesterday. I drove to my hotel in complete silence (except for Mabel, our GPS, shouting directions at me). I took a long shower without Bubba sitting on the bath mat. I read some more before getting uninterrupted sleep for the first time in ages. I spent all day in a NAFSA training, learning about F-1 regulations, but in reality I was thinking about my kids playing in the sunshine in New Mexico while the rain poured outside in Chicago. I spent two hours wandering around IKEA, daydreaming about the possibilities of cute decor for my kids’ imaginary new playroom in our imaginary new house. I left with an $8 ironing board.

I’m back at home now in Normal, and it feels anything but normal. The apartment is eerily quiet. Daddy is in Iowa visiting his sisters. Deacon (the dog) is in Nebraska learning to retrieve things and not just point at them. The kids are in New Mexico, fast asleep in their little beds, tucked on either side of Gamma and Papa’s bed. I was so excited for these two weeks — the first time I’ve had some true “me” time in over six years, and I honestly don’t even know what to do with myself.

No Daddy. No dog. No kids. What’s a mom to do?

*sigh*