Menu Plan Monday - Mom's Not cooking!

Yep. You read that correctly!  I am not cooking this week, wth the exception of today.
I am baking in preparation for my Sweets Party this upcoming Saturday. 

FG and I had dinner out together on Saturday while FIL took the kids out for a belated b-day celebration for DS.  Sunday we could have gone out since the kids were at my parents overnight but we stayed home, opened a nice bottle of wine and made some delicious rib eye's.  We only had 2 left from our 1/4 cow and that's not enough for all 4 of us to eat dinner.  It worked out well.  I ended up getting several different types of cookies done that day and we shopped for all the drinks (FG mixes up some fun martinis and mixed drinks for our party every year). 

Tonight I am cooking.  I didn't work today.  I went to pick up the kids from my parents and took them to get DS new shoes.  I baked a bit too.  I had wanted to try a new recipe from my Cook This, Not That! book - Dr. Pepper Ribs.  I'll let you know....  The rest of the week is all on FG.  Sunday while we were eating our yummy steaks that he grilled perfectly (I seasoned), I joked with him yet again how I want him to go on "Worst Cooks in America".  He said he would never make it onto the show because he can cook, I just never let him.  So it was ON!  I said fine, I have loads to do this week to prep for the party, you can make dinner!  He agreed and a short while ago we went over what we have in the house and what he wants to make.  He needs a few ingredients for what he wants to make and I told him he gets to do his own shopping too.  This is what he decided....

• Monday - (me) Dr. Pepper pork ribs, buttered bowtie noodles, salad.
• Tuesday - Chicken Fajitas/Quesadillas (kids like quesadillas with the chicken on the side), green salad
• Wednesday - Chicken/Apple sausages, pasta, veggies
• Thursday - French Dip Sandwiches, oven-baked fresh potato chips, broccoli.
• Friday - Out
• Saturday - Sweets Party

So this will be a challenge for both of us.  He will have to start early and have dinner done at a reasonable time.  He'll have to learn to juggle multiple things and when to start each dish so they are all done at close to the same time.  I'll have to bite my tongue and stay out of the kitchen!  The menu he chose does have it's advantages.  I've already prepped the chicken as I often do when I buy a big package - I will slice some up for fajitas before I freeze it, pound some flat for stuffed chicken breasts or chicken picatta, cube some for stir-fry etc.  I also grated the big block of cheese awhile back so that part is done for the fajitas/quesadillas.  The salad is all washed, spun dry and torn, the celery is cleaned and chopped.  Thursday is his toughest day.  He has some shopping to do but he is insistent on making French Dip sandwiches.  He'll have to scrub, slice, rinse, dry, season & bake the potato slices for the chips - again, his idea.  The broccoli is already cleaned and cut.    It will be good for him to start off with some advantages.  It's going to be toughest on me.  I've NEVER let go of the cooking duties. I've been cooking for him for nearly 20 years and now I'm going to have to step aside and watch him perform my duties.  Wish me luck!

Out with kids....

Parents never cease to amaze me.  I'm always baffled by parents who bring their children to a restaurant/friend's home who have no children/other places where they have to wait and be still next to you and bring NOTHING with them. 

Let's think like a child for a moment....
"This is kind of a big scary place but let me look around. Oh, that looks interesting I need to check it out, turn it over, explore it and see if it does anything fun. What?!  Why am I in trouble?  What did I do wrong?  I just want to see what that funny looking thing DOES.  WHHHHHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA"

Parent...
"Oh geezz, just SIT here and be still.  I know at our house you can pull all the stuff out of that bottom drawer while I make dinner but YOU CAN'T DO THAT HERE!   I know that when I put you in your chair at home for dinner, dinner is ready and you immediately get to eat but in a restaurant we have to wait so just SIT STILL.  Gosh, it's just such a pain to go out with little ones!"

So we have a miserable child who has no idea why the rules changed and a miserable parent because they HAVE to get their drivers license renewed/fill that prescription/would just like to have an adult conversation with a friend and not be embarrassed that their kid is a tornado/would just like to have a dinner out where they get waited on and don't have to do the dishes.  No wonder it's such pain to have little kids!

My advice.  I know, I know. The world is FILLED with unwanted parenting advice.  But I have to get it out because I, well, I just feel bad for everyone - parents and kids. 

What I did was keep a toddler size backpack in the car.  Not a diaper bag but their own little bag of goodies.  I kept it stocked with little toys that they only got to play with while we were out.  There were tiny board books, paper & crayons etc.  It changed as they got older and bored with some of the items but it was always just things that they got to see occasionally.  I also kept a few snack items, a small pack of wipes and a sample size bottle of baby Advil.  That bag saved us countless times at restaurants and friend's houses.  My kids looked forward to it in a place where they would otherwise generally be bored.  The snacks helped ease the wait at a restaurant.  The small toys helped make a new place more familiar.

Now that my kids are 11 & 7 they just want their ipods.  Quite frankly, a lot of times I just want my ipod while waiting too and in a lot of places, I let them play with them.  What I have started doing when we go out to dinner is take a small game with us.  My favorite is Spot It.  It's small, contained, fits easily in my purse without being heavy, fast, appropriate for all of our ages and it's fun!  We will usually order, get out drinks and I'll whip out Spot It and we play until our order arrives.  We don't go out often so that's a treat in itself.  My kids, like most, are used to dinner being ready when they are told to sit down.  Even if they are helping with dinner, they don't sit until it's ready so that's just how they are used to eating.  We certainly don't sit down and then fill our plates 15 minutes later! 

When they were little and had the "Elmo backpack"  I got several compliments on the idea.  Now, we get several interesting looks from people as we enjoy our game at a restaurant table.  I've had some smiles from moms at nearby tables as their kids are slouched down in their seats, noses to the ipod or DS screen, Dad with his nose to his phone.  Sometimes, that is us too but I realized that if I wanted it to change I had to start the change.  I'm so glad I did.  And I'm so glad I took that little backpack everywhere.  I still have it, can't quite let go of it yet.  It's travelled to a lot of places  It's still filled with some little things that bring a smile to my face and an eye-roll from the kids.

My sweethearts

Valentines day used to be a fairly big disappointment.  Not because I didn't have anyone but because they sucked.  My boyfriend in High School & early college was ok but he was a jerk most of the time.  Valentines day he would either do something good or forget completely.  Most of the time he forgot.

FG, now he tries to be creative.  It is something I've grown to love but it took awhile.  I do not have a good memory for most things like what I received for every birthday or where we've spent every anniversary.  He does.  Our first Valentines day together was nearly a year after we met & started dating.  We met in April of 1992 so we had a long time together before Valentines Day rolled around.
He got me shoes.  Not beautiful sexy shoes. Oh no.  He got me a white & red pair of Air Jordan's.  Uh huh.  I think I tried to be excited at the time. You know, fairly new relationship and all that crap.  Now I tease the heck out of him about it! 

He's done better since.  I've gotten lots of flowers, some jewelry, some sexy undies, some perfume.

This year I got a safe.  We have a safe so I was really confused.  I was hoping there was something exciting inside.  I prepared myself for it to be empty though.  He had it locked and it is one of those like a hotel safe with a digital code to get in.  I had to guess the code which was a significant number from our past.  Oh Brother.... really?!  He knows that tortures me.  He had a cute little note with a  selection of numbers in flaps that I could open every 15 min. to reveal and try a new code.  Those were the rules he set up.  I could try all the codes I wanted and see if I could guess on my own too.  So I tried our anniversary, the garage door code, the house number of our first house, the years our children were born, the last digits of our phone number.... on & on.  Finally I got it open.  The address of our first official apartment together. 

I wasn't disappointed when I opened it.  No it wasn't plane tickets or diamonds.  It was a laptop case, a plate of chocolate covered strawberries and a bottle of one of our favorite wines. 

I say I have grown to love his creativity on these things because while he may not spend loads of cash, he puts effort into it.  He does everything he can to make it special.  He doesn't buy my love or affection.  He truly thinks about it, us, me.

I put out for him.  yeah yeah.  We agree that the day isn't for guys anyway and isn't that all they really want in the long run? 

I also made heart shaped pizza and heart shaped garlic knots.  I served the kids their milk in wine glasses, lit candles and had a little box of candy at each person's plate.  Everyone felt special on Valentines Day, including me.