Monday, The start of a crazy week

• Last week I turned 38. My DS told me bright and early "Wow Mom. In 2 years, you'll be 40!"
• My actual birthday day was just like any other day.
• I did get a funny text message from a male friend. It said, "Happy B-day! Nice A$$!" It's a LONG story but it made me laugh, made FG laugh and wasn't a bad ego boost to my 38 year old a$$.
• Friday I got a job.
• I start that job today.
• It's at a local toystore that sells mainly educational toys.
• I sure hope I can bring home ANY sort of paycheck. I doubt it though. I LOVE the store. It's close, it's cool, the people are always nice to my kid and the toys are great!
• I start today. I'll only work a couple of days per week. PERFECT!
• I work again tomorrow night. That won't go over well with DD. But they are only open until 7 pm so again, perfect. I'll be home early enough to eat some dinner myself and help get the kids to bed.
• FG is very cool with the fact he will have to come home from the office and let me go to work once in awhile. I'm lucky that he's so accomodating knowing that I'm not really going to make much $$ but mostly doing it as something for ME.
• Wednesday I'm in the classroom at DS's school. Mean mommy I am, I am going to get next week's homework for him to do on the airplane.
• I have to pack for our trip.
• We leave Friday morning. Thankfully I have several people helping us out with the house/animals while we are gone.
• It's not soon enough for either kid.
• I'm obsessively watching the weather for Orlando.
• DS has totally come around and is bouncing off the walls wanting to go to Disney. I'm very glad he's so excited and not stressed out like I feared he may be. I'm glad he's mature enough now to realize it's not possible for us to live at Disney World.
• DD came to me on Friday night, at 5 pm of course, SCREAMING because he ear hurt. Pediatric Urgent Care, here we come! I looked with my own ear scope first because dang that one came on fast and I really don't remember the last ear infection either kid had! I didn't want to go all the way across town if it was just irritated or stuffed from her cold. I hadn't used Pediatric Urgent Care since DS was a baby. An 8 year record, not bad!
• Her medicine is NASTY and I have to take it on the trip with us. I hope airport security doesn't give me a hard time.
• I have a to-do list a mile long this week. Why I agreed to start work THIS week is beyond me.
• No menu plan or recipes this week. I did make my grandma's pulled pork bbq sandwiches yesterday. MMMMMM. We'll have the leftovers on Tuesday because that's easy for FG to make for dinner.
• Ohhh, I almost forgot. I got a fishing pole and $$ to buy myself a fishing license and a pair of slippers for my b-day from my parents. FG asked where the house-coat was to go with the slippers. hee hee hee. Now I have no reason to not take DS fishing this summer. SMA gave me a g/c to our favorite aestetician. Kinda weird for SMA to give me a brazilian wax but hey, as long as he doesn't ask to see it, I guess it's more of a gift to his good friend FG. ha ha!
• FG won his court case against a former client who owed us money. He has a few more scheduled. We all hate that he has to go that route but he's been a nice guy long enough. Time for us to get the money we are owed! The letters and negotiations aren't working so off to court we go!
• Have a great week everyone! If I don't get back on, you'll be inundated with WDW pictures soon enough. :D

To take her or not to take her?

DD is fighting off a cold. We've been EXTREMELY lucky that we have all been very very healthy this fall & winter season so far. But last week at preschool drop off, I just knew she was going to catch something. So many of the little snotty nose kids running around and one of her best friends had been out the day before. I heard her mom say, "I gave her some cough medicine to control it but she should be fine." Oh joy. I just knew it was coming. So sure enough, it was absolutely no surprise when DD's little nose started running the other day.

She isn't totally stuffed up. We've been doing good with the vitamins and the Zicam and frankly, after getting both of their tonsils out, my kids fight off illnesses rather quickly. Colds rarely linger and turn nasty. I give them Sudafed at night to keep the drainage minimal so it doesn't go sit in their ears. We do Zicam and honey during the day. It seems to work. (Meanwhile, I'm eating a ton of fresh oranges and drinking up Airborne like crazy because we all know the house falls apart when Mom gets sick!).

I let her sleep this morning waiting to see how long she would sleep in and how she felt. She just got up at 8:30. She seems ok. A little stuffy, a little cough. No fever and she's eating her breakfast. So of course the big question is... do I take her to preschool or not?

I can go two ways with this thinking. 1) She obviously caught this bug from another classmate so heck, they've all been exposed already. 2) I don't want to be one of "those" moms who drugs them up and drops them off. There's no real need for her to go today. Sure I'd like to go grocery shopping alone. I could go into the office, which I don't do if she's with me. But there's no dire need for her to go. Other than I pay for it and it kills me to pay for a day she doesn't go.

I'm leaning toward just keeping her with me today. I may curse myself by the end of the day. Though right now she's in full on pretend world and yelling up the stairs to her "friends" from Strawberry Shortcake. Her cereal bowl is drained and she's breathing through her nose. UGH! Why can't there be a clear answer on these things?! (She says she wants to stay home and then "coughs" saying she's sick. Then in the next breath she asks if she can watch cartoons. The TV junkie in her will do about anything to get her fix so I don't entirely trust her judgement!)

***Ok, I took her to school. She was bouncing around, singing and acting totally normal with lots of energy. When I took her in, her teacher is worse off that she is! So I think it's just fine. When I told her she could watch a movie AFTER school, she said, "Yes! I want to go to school!" THEN, 5 minutes after I leave, they call and she says she wants to come home. She's really working it! I talked to the preschool director and she agreed that she is fine to stay and probably working me trying to see if I'll come get her. I left it to her discretion and told her I would certainly pick her up if she felt I needed to. She laughed and said she would send her back to class and call me if anything changed. Stinker.

A teeny tiny recap

Hi, oh yeah, sorry.
Um, Thursday FG and I decided to book a lil' trip to Disney World - two weeks from now.

Friday I, yeah, uh, partied way too hard and while I had a great time, once a year (or decade) is enough of that. I hated myself on Saturday.

Speaking of Saturday, we had DS's 8th Birthday party at this really awesome place. We don't do "big parties" outside of the house for the kids usually. I felt we should do one this year as it will most likely be the last of the kind for him at his age anyway. And I felt that we should "pay back" so many of his little friends who have invited him to their big parties over the past couple of years. So we did it. It was great. Bowling, black lights, swirling strobe lights and mom with a hangover! ey yi yi. Thankfully I got into playing with the kids and forgot how bad I felt. The kids all had a fabulous time and it was only 2 hours long. I went home and napped. I do not remember the last time I had a hangover - one like that was at least a year ago. At least. I just don't do that stuff anymore, except the once a year I lose my freaking mind and forget that I am not a 22 year old college student. I must say, I enjoy a glass of wine immensely and in a week or so, I'll go back to enjoying my glass of wine. My one to two glasses only per my normal life.

I've spent the past two days prepping the kids for the upcoming trip. When we went 3 years ago, poor DS was so traumatized by having to leave Disney World he cried every day for 2 weeks straight. Then he did the healthy thing and swore off ALL DISNEY forever. He hasn't watched the Disney Channel for 3 years. He breaks out into a sweat if we turn it on in the playroom and he bolts. It's really fascinating! I've even consulted his Dr. and considered taking him to a psychologist over it. When we told him we were going back, he went pale and asked to go to his room. He's slowly coming around to the idea. We have always said we wanted to go back this January when DD is close to the age that he was the 1st time we went. I put it out of my head because I certainly didn't think it was financially possible. But we have been working damn hard and being so unbelievably frugal with our $ that we are able to do it. We just didn't know it until a few days ago. And we have free plane tickets that need to get used so that makes it a pretty darn cheap trip. If you are considering it, WDW is offering such amazing deals right now. Wait a couple of months and you will pay more - thus, we gave ourselves 2 weeks to get ready to go. My butt had to get kicked into gear on this one fast! DD is of course a maniac knowing she will get to meet the real live princesses. I've already booked breakfast for her & I one morning and I picked up a princess dress at the resale shop the other day. They even have on file to call me if any more come in. They only had a Snow White dress (couldn't pass it up for $6!). You've seen DD - she's got white blond hair! So if I can find a Cinderella or Aurora dress for her to wear to breakfast, ohhhh yeah.

Also, Facebook has taken over my life. Unfortunately there are a few too many pictures of me in college on there right now. I should just delete my account but now I'm sucked in.

Me - Beaming

image from www.anonymousspace.com

I worked in DS's classroom yesterday. First I did some "busywork" stuff for the teacher like I do every other week, copies, etc. Then I worked on telling time with the kids. It's on a standardized test next week. 99% of them were very bored with it and knew how to tell time perfectly. I should hope so by this point! But I like sitting down with the kids one on one anyway, I don't care what we are doing.

But when I first arrived to school, the kids were at recess. The teacher was especially chatty, unusual for her as she's very quiet and reserved. She went on and on about how smart my son is. How he thinks on a different level and in such a different way than the rest of the class. I can't tell you how happy this made me. She told me she is really enjoying having him in her class. Again, me, beaming. He's such a quirky kid. Sensitive and extremely funny. His comedic timing has always been excellent and well beyond his young years. He's just intense sometimes and a lot to take too. His SPD can really get on a person's nerves big time. His little quirkiness can make a person pull their hair out. So I'm thankful that yet again we have a teacher who loves him and understands that he's not wiggling around the classroom to be annoying or disruptive but that's because that's who he is. She said she makes recommendations for the Gifted and Talented program because it starts in 3rd grade. When we met with the school officials at the end of 1st grade, the principal, his 1st grade teacher and the psychologist all recommended it as well based on his IQ test at the age of 4 and his current knowledge level in class. I told his current teacher that yes, we wanted to have him tested and see if he could qualify. I would love to have him surrounded by kids who think it's fun to take his "Flags of the World" place mat and his globe and match up the country with their flag, who think Time Warp, Planet Earth and How it's Made are the best shows EVER, who get excited because they are starting to learn geometry (and he's already ahead of his mommy), who have to be told repeatedly that it's time for lights out at night because they don't want to stop reading that new book Mom got them from the library (if it weren't for the library, I would be broke as I just checked out 3 new chapter books for him yesterday). We'll see what next year brings but gosh, it can sure make a mom's heart soar when someone else is marveled by your kid!

Menu and Broccoli Cheese Soup

Mondays have been busy, thus I've been posting my menu on Tuesday. So shoot me, whatever. I went skiing again yesterday - alone. Ahhhh!!!! I'd love to go Friday too if I can. I remind myself how dang lucky I am every time I go because I drop off my DD at preschool at 9 and I am on the hill by 9:30. It's wonderful! Having a pass helps too because then I can ski for just as long as I want and head home. Yesterday I was home by 11:30, ate lunch, changed my clothes etc. all before going to pick her up at 1. It's just perfect! Now we just need more snow....

• Sunday - Baked pork chops, salad, twice baked potatoes, honey oatmeal bread, corn.
• Monday - leftover broccoli cheese soup, grilled ham & cheese sandwiches
• Tuesday - Chuck roast in the slow cooker, veggies (whatever I decide at dinnertime), noodles
• Wednesday - FG working, probably egg & bacon sandwiches & fresh fruit for the kids & I
• Thursday - Basketball game, not sure yet
• Friday - OUT! Birthday party for several of us who have January birthdays
• Saturday - not sure, DS's birthday party for his little friends is that morning and then there's a basketball game that night. We'll just wing it!

Now onto my new broccoli cheese soup recipe! I had a bunch of broccoli and time on my hands last week. So I did my usual of read through a bunch of recipes and make up my own. Here it is:

Broccoli Cheese Soup

5-6 cups chicken broth

2 small potatoes, cubed

4-5 cups fresh broccoli florets

Put into a large saucepan and boil until tender. I added a bit of salt too.

1/2 onion, diced

4 tbs. butter

Saute until tender and add

1/2 cup flour to make roux, stir in 1/2 cup half and half or milk

Add thickened mixture to broth & veggies (I should have drained off some of the broth at this point because my soup was a little thin).

Use an immersion blender or add to blender and blend in small batches until smooth. (I removed some of the broccoli and returned it to the soup after I blended. I wanted some chunks in there but FG is not a fan of broccoli chunks in the soup so most of it was smooth.)

1/2 brick Velveeta, cubed

Salt to taste
1/2 - 1 cup heavy cream

All all ingredients to a crock pot and simmer on low until ready to eat and cheese is melted.

I kept having to add some flour/water mixture to thicken it up so next time I will use less broth. I added shredded cheddar to the top and I attempted to bake bread bowls. They were good, just too small. It was excellent! We ate it again last night as leftovers and it was thicker and still yummy!

Happy Birthday to my Dear Son!

My sweet baby boy turned 8 yesterday. My gosh this kid has changed my life! I can't even list the ways. All I know is I am incredibly blessed to have him in my life and to be his mother. Even though he can frustrate me to no end some days, I am so filled with love for him it is sometimes unimaginable. I'm not ready for him to grow up. If time travel were possible, I'd go right back to when he was like this:

Menu Plan Monday / Banana Bread Recipe

Good Morning! Ok, I think I'm done bellyaching about the house cleaning stuff. I'll let you all know what I come up with after your suggestions. I was in the office yesterday and very much wanted to just tell FIL but I held back. I know for sure I am going to wait until he's really done doing much of anything for our portion of the business. He was doing some collection work for FG and I just didn't want to mess with anyone who was working to get us our money. :)


I know it's Tuesday but here's our menu for the week followed by a banana bread recipe that I made the other day. I have been busy, as many of you have, getting back into the normal routine of life with school and homework and meals and stuff in general. It feels good.

• Sunday - Pork Roast w/ rosemary & thyme, corn casserole, sugar snap peas (SMA and I eat them but no one else), glazed carrots (SMA & FG eat these but no one else), salad, fresh bread (can you tell I'm trying to load up on veggies?)
• Monday - BBQ Chicken thighs in the crock pot, pasta salad, cauliflower (DS's veggie choice!), salad
• Tuesday - Hot dogs w/ homemade meat-chili sauce, roasted red potatoes, salad, green beans
• Wednesday - Soup & Grilled cheese, fresh fruit (FG is working)
• Thursday - Shrimp stir fry over pasta
• Friday - DS's 8th birthday! Homemade pizza & garlic knots.
• Saturday - no idea!

Now for the banana bread. I am usually the only one who eats it so I'll usually take 1/2 a loaf to the preschool teachers. But this time, DD decided she wanted to try some as I was slicing it. She told me I am the bestest baker ever. **GRIN**

Banana Bread

1/2 cup margarine or butter, softened

2/3 cup granulated sugar

2 eggs, beaten

1 3/4 cup flour

2 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1 cup mashed ripe banana

Mix together dry ingredients and set aside. Beat butter until creamy. Add sugar gradually & beat until light and fluffy. Add eggs, beat well. Add flour mixture alternately with bananas. Pour into a well greased loaf pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 50 - 60 minutes or until bread is done in the middle.

This time I added a scant cup of blueberries and folded those in before I put it in the loaf pan. I always sprinkle the top of the batter with some raw sugar too.

OH YUM!