Goodbye Bubba

FG's cat died today.  His mother is a mess.  Bubba lived with her.  There was some shared custody after FG's parents divorced but for the most part, Bubba was the companion of my MIL.  He was a cranky old cat, with good reason.  FG got the cat in 1991 a few months before we met in 1992.   Thus, we stared calling him "Yoda" because he was so freakin' old.  He used up all of his 9 lives in the first few years - he was 1) attacked by a dog and nearly killed - he had a notch out of his ear as his battle scar
2) Shot.  That shattered his leg and it was rebuilt.  He had a funky external cast thing on for awhile that looked like a handle sticking off his leg.  I think that was on there when FG and I got married.
3) right after he got his "handle" off, he jumped and broke the same leg.  Literally days later.  He had more surgery and got some metal put in there.
4) he developed kitty diabetes and had to have shots of insulin daily

I think there's a few things I'm missing because it seemed like that cat kept the Vet in a Mercedes. 
He was obnoxious when he was younger too.  He sat and tried to take food off my fork when I would eat dinner.  Why he bothered me I have no idea.  But always me.  He would swipe at my hand while I ate.  He also "felt me up" regularly.  FG would pick him up and hold him like a baby. He would reach out one paw and always put it on my boob.  When we were first dating and FG was still living at home, I would spend the night even though I wasn't supposed to.  We managed to keep it a secret in his little twin bed and MIL would come in and put the cat on FG every morning.  As we hid under the covers trying to look like one person, she plopped the cat on us.  We finally told her a few years ago and she swears she had no idea.  (Yes, she really is that clueless sometimes).

The funniest thing about him is the past few years he had a "gang" of old men cats.  I have never ever seen a cat go to another cat's front door and meow until the other cat was let out.  Bubba had two friends who did this regularly.  They came to his door and waited until MIL let him out and then off they would go - grumpy old men.  I think they swapped kitty war stories...."Then the dog, enormous with giant sharp teeth, had me in his clenched jaw...." 

MIL will be very sad for awhile. It's hard to have a cat that long and not miss him.  FG will miss him too.   My kids will really miss him too.  DS does not do well with the animal's deaths.  So I lied. This morning before school I told him that Bubba was sick but still alive.  At that very moment, he was but the vet was on her way over to change that and I knew it.

Super cheap-o dinners

Last night I roasted a whole chicken.  I have to say I went old school and did not waste a thing with this chicken either.  I paid $3.58 for it. (I picked up three whole chickens on sale last week at $.77/lb).
This is what I got out of it. I even fed the dog.

• Cooked the giblets for the dog's dinner
• Family had 2/3 of the chicken for dinner.
• Used a small portion of leftover meat and mixed it with the rice pilaf we had as a side dish - that will be FG's lunch tomorrow.
• Saved the rest of the meat for another family meal - maybe enchiladas or pot pies?
• Simmered the carcass for a few hours for stock.

I am not sure how much stock I got yet because it was late so I just put the whole pan in the fridge to deal with this afternoon.  I'm guessing 1 1/2 quarts.

Not bad for one $3.58 chicken!

Whoa! Slow down Time, just a little bit please!

Yikes! October is well upon us.  What did you do for 10-10-10?  I went to a baby shower.  It's been awhile since I've gone to a baby shower.  Baby Showers and Wedding Showers seem to be abundant in your 20's & earlier 30's.  By the time I hit my mid 30's the Wedding Showers were rare and now that I'm, gulp, in my late 30's approaching 40 Baby Showers aren't happening every week either. 

Since I only blog on my PC but can do just about everything else on my ipod I haven't been on here at all. I feel so behind catching up with Bloggy friends!  A few little highlights have been:

• I chaperoned a field trip for DS's 4th grade.  We had to take charter buses and we left school at 9:15 am and returned just before 6 pm.  It was 95 degrees outside and we were in the middle of the desert with NO trees.  It was hot, dusty and sticky.  LONG day that wiped me out.
• I covered for a girl who was sick at the toystore the next day.  It was busy and we are training newbies.  Not fun on a super busy day.
• Last week was Walk (bike) To School day so I helped herd along 9 little children walking to school from a park.  (Our house is a bit far.  Maybe next year we'll attempt it!)
• DD whipped out a poster on Safety about 3 minutes before we left to meet others at the park.  The school was having a contest.
• DD came home from school that day saying she won a new bike & helmet.  I didn't believe her so I called a few people and the PTA President confirmed that she indeed won the bike. 
• DS was very upset.  I do not know how to make this kid happy. I seriously want to take him to a psychologist and find out why he seems to thrive on being unhappy.
• I have been helping out in DD's classroom too.  So. Many. Kids.
• I switched out my summer clothes/shoes for the cool-weather ones over the weekend.  This was after I spent my ONLY day off in a couple of weeks scrubbing down my house.  It was 80 degrees outside while I was packing away shorts and flip flops and pulling out sweaters.  It was definitely a conundrum but I know I won't be wearing the linen pants until next spring anyway.

Now here's my menu

• Sunday - Soup & grilled cheese
• Monday - Roasted whole chicken, rice, veggies
• Tuesday - Kids will get their choice. FG and I have to go to the parents night informing us what they will be teaching our son for the sex-ed program they start in 4th grade.  Lord help me!
• Wednesday - Pork chops, roasted red potatoes, veggies
• Thursday - Grilled tri-tip steak, noodles, spinach salad
• Friday - no idea. I'm hoping FG and I get a date night!
• Saturday - Homemade pizza

Last week I made a chuck roast in the crock pot, chicken fajitas (I had mine on a salad instead of in a tortilla), bacon wrapped stuffed chicken breasts, hot dogs.  It wasn't an overly exciting week!

Monday already?

We went wine tasting over the weekend. We had a great time with friends who joined us.  We drove down in our big car & our poor friend J was a teeny bit hungover.  He neglected to tell us that his birthday was the night before!  Thanks to Facebook I found out so we had a card & an itunes card to surprise him with.  But sitting in the backseat of our large SUV on curvy mountain roads with a hangover was not much fun for him.  He rallied though and we had a great time sampling at several wineries.  They had never been to that area before - it's such a nice little gem!  Better than Napa, I think, which has gotten so full of itself.  This area doesn't charge for tastings, you are generally chatting it up with the winemaker and they are generous with their pours.  We were admiring the grapes on a vine at one vineyard and the owner was over explaining to us when they would pick them, what they should look like, why he was taking off small "new" clusters and tossing them down on the ground. I just don't think that happens in Napa much anymore.  He let us taste the grapes, explained how the seed would be darker when it was time to harvest and told us, "Go ahead and taks some bunches if you want them." 

The kids bounced between grandparents for the time we were gone.  I found out that FIL left DD sitting on a bench in a busy and zero secure place.  He took the kiddos to go indoor blacklight mini-golfing.  Apparently DD got scared of it (because it's such a good idea to take a 6 year old to a place like that! It was nice enough they could have gone to the outdoor one where there would not have been and terror issues. But no, this one is great because it's scary - like a haunted house!).  So I will give him the fact that he was in a no-win situation with the kids.  He hopefully learned a lesson that he can't take the kids to do things like that on his own.  He was going to get it for leaving one kid or the other alone or just simply having a terrified crying 6 year old drama queen with him which would have made DS miserable as well as everyone around them.  So I'm not sure if we tell him we are unhappy with having her sit on a bench alone, by the front doors, or not.  They are fine. They are safe. They had a good weekend.  I think we'll just leave this one alone for now.

But now it's Monday. I have no menu planned. I have another busy week.  I have piles of laundry to get through and it's going to be HOT.  Like record breaking HOT.  I guess we'll be getting a bit more mileage out of the kid's summer clothes and the grill.

Hopefully I'll be back at ya tomorrow with a menu.  As of right now, I've got no clue!

Yesterday

• Got the children's beds totally cleaned - comforters, blankets etc.  They were all happy and cozy getting into their beds last night!
• Got the junk drawer cleaned out!
• Got bread made for dinner.
• Made a nice dinner & my dad joined us.  My mom comes home tonight - whoohoo!
• Made blueberry muffins at DD's request and had two warm ones waiting for her when she got off the school bus.
• Played games as a family before bed last night.
• Kids got their homework done while I prepped dinner and after they were done eating, they actually played together, nicely & quietly in the playroom.  Thus the reward of family game night before bed!
• Got a nap in!!  A short one but it was a nice little power nap all the same. 
• Got the PTA committee stuff organized and now am just waiting on a return phone call from the principal as to when we can meet to discuss what I want to do at the school. 

Ahhhh!  I love it when I actually get some of the things done that I plan on doing!

Today

• I have the day "off".  Meaning I don't have to go to the office, I don't have to go to the toystore and I don't have to volunteer in either classroom.
• Yesterday I attacked the Little Princess' room with the vacuum.  I also too the opportunity to clean up all the little crap.  I think every kid seems to collect copious amounts of little crap!  The dust is gone, her room is cleaner and more organized.  She was happy and didn't even notice the missing "treasures".
• Today I am stripping both children's beds and washing everything - comforters, blankies et al. It felt so good when I washed our bedding last weekend that I decided to share the wealth with the kids.  Must be because the nights are getting cold.
• I am counting down the hours until Saturday morning!  We are going to wine country!  We're driving the big car and bringing another couple with us. We got a great deal on a B&B and where we go, the tastings are all free.  Tomorrow I'll be baking fresh bread & cookies and maybe making a little Chinese Chicken Salad.  I'll hit the cheese counter for some yummy cheese & slice up some apples.... I have been looking forward to this for weeks.
• The biggest downside - my mom is just getting back into town so I didn't ask them to keep the kids. Instead they are going with my FIL and his wench.  I hate it when my kids spend a lot of time with them. They just do NOT respect the fact we are their parents and we have certain parameters.  FG explained it to his dad this way - it's like borrowing a car and returning it dirty, no gas and with a flat tire.  Sure the car is really OK but it's not how you loaned it out.  Same with the kids - they are always returned to us dirty (literally), out of gas and with flat tires.  They let them eat nothing but crap, let them stay up WAY WAY too late and don't even bother to change their clothes.  So we may be very lucky to have a night alone when the kids go with FIL but we pay for it several times over the next day.  I decided awhile ago it wasn't worth it until FG had a talk with his dad and his dad seemed to get the car metaphor.  We're giving them another chance & we'll see how it goes.  Then my parents will have the kids all day on Sunday since my mom will be home. I realize we are super lucky to have family around willing to take the kids but I also think the kids are super lucky to get to spend so much time with their grandparents!
• Right now I'm procrastinating working on the "Go Green" committee for our school.  Somehow I got named the committee chair.  Lucky me.  Now I have all these wonderful volunteers emailing me all their ideas.  Thankfully, I'm not half bad at delegating and when someone says, "How about this?"  I reply, "Great!  You seem to have a good handle on it so far so go ahead and run with it!"  hee hee hee.  Nope, not gonna be the one to have all the ideas thrown at me and have me execute them.  You have an idea, you better research it and get to work on it!
• I also need to clean out the junk drawer.
• I also need/want to clean out my makeup. - All these little things I always say, "If I had a whole day to myself I'd get that done!"  I hope to accomplish some of it.  And a nap. :)
• I think my arch fell slightly and my ankle has been KILLING me for two weeks now.  I'm taking a ridiculous amount of ibuprofen because my whole leg aches.  I have to go get some decent inserts for my shoes.  I think wearing all the cheap flip flops and flats have really made me pay.

If you had the whole day at home to yourself, what would YOU do?

Menu 9/20

I'm happy to say, I followed my menu last week!  I switched two days but made what I planned to make.  I've also been getting the "Mooooommmmmm. What's for dinner?" question a lot.  DS is even asking what's for dinner the NEXT day before dinner the current day!  So having it listed on the fridge is helpful. I no longer answer him, I tell him to read it!

• Sunday - Roasted chicken, mashed potatoes, corn, brownies (I was really not in the mood to cook yesterday!  I told the guys they were kinda lucky they were getting anything at all!)
• Monday - Cheeseburgers, rice, green salad
• Tuesday - Spaghetti Dinner Fundraiser/Carnival at the elementary school
• Wednesday - Balsamic pork chops, cous cous, broccoli
• Thursday - Soup & grilled cheese
• Friday - ???
• Saturday - OUT! No kids!

Nothing too exciting this week.  It's another busy week of work/school events.  After last week, I'm giving myself a break too.  The weekend was just so so busy and I've been cooking so much that I don't want to get totally burned out.  I'm teetering on the edge of that and it's no good for the family when that happens! So easy on me, easy on the family this week. 

How grown up's enjoy a Capri Sun Houseparty

Big bummer - I have no pictures.
We had another House Party last night.  It was a Capri Sun party.  I was so excited to get to host this one.  But the "party box" wasn't all that impressive.  In fact, of the 3 House Parties I've had, the box was the smallest and had the least amount of give away stuff.  I got 2 boxes of juice boxes, Frisbees, napkins, magnets, Teracycle tote bag and teracycle pencil cases.  They did include some coupons for $1 off a pack of 100% juice or the water.  eh.  So I had to not only host the party but I had to go buy a bunch of juice boxes.  In my marketing opinion, they should have reduced the number of parties and sent more stuff.  As a marketing friend and I were discussing, the cost of doing focus groups is $$$$ and this is an awesome (& inexpensive comparatively) way for them to have 2,000 focus groups across the country.    So knowing how important focus groups are and how much they cost, I was a bit bummed out by the swag.

We hosted a pot luck dinner anyway.  I got scheduled to work even though I wasn't supposed to.  We were I.N.S.A.N.E. at the toystore too. When I ducked out at 2 pm, I felt guilty but hey, I wasn't even supposed to be on the schedule and I had worked 5 Saturdays in a row.  Pshaw! That's what the college kids are for!  So I decided a pot luck would be best.  And it was.  It looked like a bomb exploded in the playroom and then a tornado carried the toys through the backyard.  One girl went home with one shoe because we simply could NOT locate the other one.  I guess that classifies as a "wild kid party".  It has really taken a lot for me to learn to "let it go" and let the kids just do what they want and take stuff where they want.  FG and I got it all cleaned up by 10:30 so all was ok.  Still, a lot of damn work.

The kids drank a gazillion juice pouches.  FG used the 100% apple juice ones to mix the adults some yummy appletini's.  Yep. That's how adults do Capri Sun. Add a little vodka and it's allllll good. 

Needless to say I'm worn out today.  FG and I marveled this week at how we had a free Sunday! Yay!  Unfortunately too good to be true.  I had to go to church with my dad and the kids (I don't care for going to church, then I had to tell the Sunday School teacher to stop giving my kids candy every.single.Sunday. and that I really really don't care for her giving them Tootsie Pop's and letting them come back for the rest of the service sucking on them!) then DD had a last minute b-day party to go to.  Now SMA will be here for dinner soon, the kids need to be bathed, DD has some homework (Ugh! First time EVER on a weekend for either kid!), and the week will begin again.  Work, school functions, laundry, meals....  But next weekend.  No kids, a night away at a B&B and wine tasting for the weekend with friends.  Ahhhhhh! I cannot wait.

Menu Plan Monday! 9/13

Can I get a little pat on the back please? 
This Saturday after work I ran to Smith's (our Kroger).  I wanted to get a couple of things that were on special that I knew wouldn't be coming back around for a while. While I was there, I looked at the meat section like always.  They do have good deals on meat fairly often.  I picked up two great Manager's Specials - the chicken legs we ate on Sunday and the beef we are eating today, plus another piece for later.  The chicken legs were $1.36 & $1.18 a package and the beef was $1.99 per pound for london broil.  Whoohoo!  It gets a bit expensive when I have to feed SMA.  He can eat a lot!  And knowing it's his only home cooked meal a week, I try to make sure he gets enough. 
This morning I got the kids off to school, got the laundry separated and started, dishwasher emptied, dinner in the crock pot, animals fed & watered and I'm even blogging! Wow!  I am liking this new schedule so far - kids on the bus at 8:20, I leave for work about 9:45. 
Here's this weeks' menu!  (I should note that I stuck to my menu the past two weeks too!  I had a "?" on Friday but we ended up getting pizza because DS had a friend sleep over. I also worked that day filling in for someone so I wasn't in the mood to be making a big meal.)

• Sunday - Teriyaki chicken legs in the crock pot, potato/zucchini pancakes, veggies, bread
• Monday - Beef Tips w/ gravy (crock pot), mashed potatoes, cauliflower
• Tuesday - Grilled Pork Chop Sandwiches, noodles, corn
• Wednesday - Beer Battered Fish & oven baked Chips, salad
• Thursday - Mexican Waffles (Taco meat over savory cornmeal waffles) w/ all the works
• Friday - Take out
• Saturday - Pot Luck Capri Sun House Party!

Because of my computer being so screwed up, it's tough for me to easily locate my recipes I have stored.  I'll give a little rundown of both the crock pot meals
The chicken legs went into the crock pot and I mixed up 1/2 cup soy sauce, 3 T. brown sugar, crushed garlic & some ginger.  I let it cook all day on low while we were on the boat.
Beef tips w/ gravy - saute sliced onion in a bit of olive oil, when tender, tranfer to crock, season cubed beef w/ salt & pepper & brown in same pan onions were sauted in.  Transfer to crock.  Mix up 3/4 cup water w/ 1-2 t. of beef boullion mix (I use the Better Than Boullion paste in a jar).  Add to crock.  Cook on low all day.  About 1 hour before serving, mix some flour & water and add to crock to thicken into gravy. Add seasoning if necessary.  That's it! I usually serve this over wide egg noodles but I have potatoes right now so we'll have that.

Back in session!

Headed out the door!

School is back in session here.  Yay!  Back to school night for parents was last night.  As usual, our classrooms were packed with parents.  The school holds 2 sessions on one evening.  In our DD's 1st grade class there are 35 kids and 2 teachers.  We attended the 1st session in her class and FG counted 35 parents packed into that room.  There were more waiting to attend the 2nd session too. Which means that nearly every child's parents were there and many of them had BOTH parents attend.  Awesome.

I signed up for what I wanted to volunteer for both in each child's class and with the PTA.  I didn't do more than I wanted to do.  FG will chaperone a field trip for each kid too like he has every year. 

We had a funny moment when the 1st grade teachers were telling the parents the importance of getting the kids on a routine, having a designated place for backpacks and homework, getting enough rest and having them know where they are supposed to go.  FG gave me a look.  I chuckled quietly.  Haven't I been working on that?  I got the Command hooks for the kid's backpacks put up the other day.  The kids know what they are supposed to do and while it's only been 2 days, there was very little reminding on those days. They got off the school bus, emptied the packs, gave me important papers, put homework (yes DS had homework on the 1st day of 4th grade, no messing around!) on the counter, put lunchboxes at the sink, hung up their packs and washed their hands.  It all went smoothly. So when they were strongly suggesting these things, I had to give myself a little credit. Then again, I've been down this road before and many parents haven't.  Still, it's just in my nature too. 

The obligatory "front of the school" shot.

I am still not used to them being gone all day.  I worked on Monday, which was a good thing for me to keep my mind off the fact that I had just taken my baby to 1st grade and my son barely said goodbye as he ran off to find friends on his first day of 4th grade.  Yesterday I managed to get things caught up and today I'm headed to the Apple store for my Genuis Bar appt. then to work with FG.  I'm keeping myself busy so I don't break down and cry.  It just goes SO fast once they are in school all day!  Yes, we need this but I'm still not ready for time to just fly by either.  Happy Medium please?

DD in her bright pink skirt. I was in the hall talking to other parents and she had no idea I was still at school. I had to snap a shot of her walking into the cafeteria for their first day of school assembly.

Back to school prep

This week I've been focused on getting everything ready for the kids to go back to school.  As I mentioned before, my shopping reflected it. FG and I also spent a little extra and hit up Costco today for some lunch items and I went to the "regular" grocery store and stocked us up on fresh fruits & veggies among more back-to-school foods for all three meals of the day.  It went a bit beyond my normal budget but we were able to swing it so it's all good.  I got the kids involved so they could pick some items out for lunches too. 
Speaking of that, did you see pigs fly today?  While at the deli for FG and I, DS was looking in the case and said he would like to try the peppered turkey.  The girl gave him a sample slice and he gobbled it up (I snagged a bit of it for DD to try too).  They both asked me to buy them some.  Uh, yeah!  So I was looking all day for those flying pigs.

Here's what we've done so far to get ready for the big transition next week:

• Kept the supply list in my purse so when I would see something cheap, I knew what I needed.
• Marked off what we already had on hand at home so I didn't double buy (really? DS does not need a new pair of scissors every year. Crayons, yes, because there's something about starting off with a brand new box of crayons, colored pencils & markers.  Scissors, backpack, pencil box, ruler?  Not necessary to waste money on every single year!)
• Bought supplies when they were super-cheap a couple of weeks ago. Can't beat $.15 for a notebook!
• Cleaned out the backpacks
• Cleaned out the lunchboxes
• Divided up the supplies into each kid's backpack and checked the list. I do have two more small things to pick up.
• Started to re-read The Out of Sync Child so I can help DS as much as possible and not sound like an idiot when I try to explain his "quirkiness" to his new teacher.
• Checked the ice packs for leaks in case I needed to buy new ones.
• Bought DD a Thermos though I haven't given it to her yet.
• Bought the kids new shoes since they live in flip flops all summer and those are a No No at school (not that I would want them in flip flops on the school playground anyway)
• Went through the kids clothes to assess what will be needed.
• Splurged and bough DD a new outfit for her first day of 1st grade
• Organized the pantry so it's easier to grab breakfast items and lunch items.
• Made breakfast for dinner tonight so I could make a quadruple batch of waffles to freeze for school mornings. (My kids don't know Eggos.  Mine are so much better anyway!)
• Started getting them to bed earlier and getting them up earlier.  sniff sniff. HATE this part!
• This morning had them do a "run through" as if they had to get to school so they did their morning routine the way it will be during the week.  DD has never had to do this as she went to afternoon kindergarten.  It's more for her to get used to it and for me to see if I need to make some changes to make it go smoother.
• Turned down the first request for help in DD's classroom.  I have to work during the day now so I had a decent excuse but dang, school hasn't even started yet and I got asked to stay the first day to help out.  Sometimes that good reputation as a helper isn't a good thing!
• Took a walk with the kids on their bikes and enjoyed the cool evening air!  Soon it will be homework time and earlier sunsets and cold temps!

Whew!

The class lists came out yesterday. 
I waited as long as I could before I went up to the school to check.  Yeah, that would be 10:15.  hee hee. I wanted to go at 9 when the school doors should have opened.
Thankfully there were no surprises. 

DS - got the "organized" teacher I was hoping for. I'd heard good things about her though I have never had any interaction with her.  I just polled lots of parents and everyone who had her liked her.  Always a good sign.  The fact that she's considered organized and very "on-task" with the kids is a plus for DS.  I dread transitions with him.  I feel like I have to break in a new teacher every fall.  It takes time to get to know his quirks and I pray every year that they are at least familiar with the  concept of SPD.  I am usually very willing to lend out my books if they want to gather some more info on how his crazy brain works.  And help me, he's already talking about the stupid Fire Drill.  It's like he's being set on fire when it happens. He screams, covers his ears and basically it's torture for him.  It's torture for the other kids too because if they know him, they roll their eyes and say, "He's at it again."  If they don't know him, it's not a great first impression for him to overcome.  Poor kid.  He's immediately labeled as "weird". 
His BFF isn't in his class - thankfully. That was on purpose too.  I have tried to get him to understand that it's ok to not be in the same class.  When it's class time, it's work/serious time.  They can make a place to meet on the playground for recesses.  Still, he's uneasy about not having that comfort of his friend with him.  I get it. But secretly I'm hoping he branches out and makes some new friends too. 

DD - got the team taught class I was expecting too.  Over the summer I heard rumors of a 1st & 2nd grade combo class.  Uh oh.  NO ONE I talked to was excited about this save for  one mother.  One parent went so far as to tell me she didn't think the particular teacher assigned to it would be able to adequately teach that way.  So I was nervous that things would be different than I expected.  Nope.  She's in class with her BFF and two other good girlfriends.  We showed her her classroom door (locked at the time though I think the teacher was in there, can't blame her for not wanting to be disturbed though!).  We showed her where she will line up outside when the bell rings before school and at recess.  She's excited now.  She's finally dropped the "Mom! Will you just please homeschool me?" routine.  Right. 'cause that's gonna happen!

While we were there, we stopped in to see DS's 3rd grade teacher.  It's a comfort to him knowing that she will be just down the hall from his new classroom.  He told her he may come see her and get some advice through the school year.  He's never been excited to go back and visit a past teacher before.  They just really bonded! 

Me working hard on having a good relationship and reputation among the teachers is going well.  She asked me for advice on a few things with dealing with parents for the upcoming year.  She's been teaching a lot longer than I've had kids in school so that was a surprise.  But it was flattering all the same.  DD's teachers have already been told by her K teacher that I'm "wonderful".  I know this because I saw the note at the bottom of her end of the year evaluation that goes with them to the next class.  :D  It's such a fine line to walk - I want to be there and make sure my kids are getting the best they can and being treated fairly but I don't want to be overbearing and a busy-body.  I want to keep the reputation of "you want this woman's children in your class" among the teachers like I have now.  I saw that when DS was in 1st grade and one mom went off the 2nd week of school about her precious baby being treated unfairly.  It was a small incident really and my DS was involved too.  I spoke to the teacher and that was that.  This mom went off and emailed the teachers, the principal and kept going & going.  The 2nd week of school? Really?!  Well she now has a reputation that  I don't want around the school. 

So now we will sharpen the pencils, label the supplies and pack up the backpacks.  The kids got excited about it all over again just being at the school yesterday.  I'm uneasy, as I am every school year, and waiting to get to know the teachers.  Praying that they "get" my kids the way ones in the past have and that it all goes smoothly.  It's exciting and nerve-wracking for all of us.

My savings!

Whoohoo! Today has been a good shopping day.  My measly paycheck went about as far as I could make it go.  FG is at the office now, hopefully getting in some client checks so I can finish shopping.  Actually, I don't have all that much leftover after today's adventure and I do still have a bit of cash in my wallet.  But I want to keep some of it there for a bit!

So our first stop today - Raley's.  I saved 58%.  I took advantage of their Buy 4 boxes of Kellogg's cereal and get them for $1.74 each.  I bought 8. I had two $1 off 2 coupons.  I got 2 gallons of milk to go with all that cereal (my cereal stockpile is now at a whopping 12 boxes of unopened and another 8 of opened ones).

Second stop wasn't that  successful but it was still good. It was stuff we needed too, like laundry soap and face wash and flouride rinse for the kids. Target - Saved almost $17, spent almost $52.  I did get a good deal on fabric softener which was on sale and then I had two coupons totalling $3 off.  My splurge was that I bought myself a new belt since my old ones are toast.  It was also on sale and I had a $2 off coupon.  Target Online Coupons.
Side note on our Target trip. I bought the kids Icees and with the first sip, DS's tooth popped out and landed on the floor.  We put it in my pocket for the toothfairy later.

Third stop was Smith's (Kroger affiiate).  This was a great one.  I took advantage of their $4 off 8 items deal and got $8 off.  I got 3 pkgs ground beef (really the only meat we need right now anyway), a bunch of Powerade for FG, Capri Sun for the kids, and some lunch-food items for school lunch too.  Spent $30, saved $22. 

I promised the kids if they were good we would go get some Silly Bands at the toystore so I took them there.  LOVE my discount!  They each picked out a package and immediately put them on.  My boss came out to say hello and told me that I shouldn't have paid for them and let the kids pick out another pack each.  So sweet!

Then we headed to Payless.  BOGO plus a 20% off coupon.  Got the kids each a new pair of tennis shoes for school.  Now usually we buy them "better" shoes but DD's foot grows fast and she won't wear these every day.  DS wanted these ugly Airwalk ones and I know his current tennis shoes are too small.  So I let him get them.  FG wasn't happy but oh well.  We'll go get him some better ones in a couple of months when he no longer wears sandals regularly.  At least I saved $20!  Since it's 2 doors down from the toystore, they give me a 10% discount for working in the center.  Unfortunately, she tried to give it to me on top of the other discounts and it wouldn't go through.  Oh well. It was a nice shot and it's nice that they offer that to us anyway.

I arrived home a few hours later to more food in the house plus two new chairs - a leather living room chair and a sort of "futon" chair.  Don't be thinking "college dorm room" stuff.  This is a nice chair.  FG's dad sold their cabin at the lake and we got some of the furniture.  It's only a few years old and I know his snobby wife paid a lot for it all brand new.

I also got the email confirmation that I'm a finalist for the Capri Sun House Party!  AWESOME!!!!!!!

The transition

Right now I'm sitting here sniffling and doing exactly what I didn't want to do - staying in bed way too late, letting the kids watch too many cartoons in their jammies and eat breakfast ridiculously late.  They got up early at least.  I have a lovely summer cold.  ARGH!  So I must give myself a little break and not be so hard on myself but dammit, it doesn't fit with my plan! 

My plan of transition is slowing working.  Slowly.  I'm actually getting the kids to bed at a decent hour.  I'm trying to get myself to bed at a decent hour too.  But this morning I woke up just before 6 and started sneezing and sniffling again and haven't stopped. At least I slept well from 11 - 6! Poor FG. I woke him up too.  He left for the day and I went back to sleep.  I heard one of the kids come in and ask if they could turn on cartoons and I mumbled a stuffy- "Yeth"and went back to sleep.  I know, I know, my body needs the rest and better to let it now and get over this blasted bug while I can and don't HAVE to get up and get the kids out the door to school. 

I'm struggling with my grocery shopping list too.  Ey yi yi!  I have a week of "summer" left and then the first week of packing 2 lunches every. single. day. for two very different kids.  Since I shop every two weeks on payday, today's my day!  I'm scanning the ads, printing coupons, matching up deals at various stores...  and my mind is reeling.  Dinners for the next two weeks.... snacks for the boat and home..... lunches at home..... lunches at school.... will DD need a mid-morning snack of her own or will the class have a group snack like DS did in 1st grade?  will she even have a snack?  will DS need one?  his 3rd grade teacher had us send one every day because they don't get a break in the morning so she implemented one for the class of 10 minutes to eat a healthy snack, stretch their legs, go to the bathroom and transition into the next subject. Should I plan for that this year or is 4th grade getting too old for "snack time"?  Oh yeah, afterschool snacks too and then easier to prepare, quick cleanup dinners since we'll all be getting used to new schedules - me included with working while the kids are in school 3 days a week. That means I won't be able to feel like making anything that takes a whole lot of time or effort those 3 days.  Time to bust out the crock pot! I have to get out of the mindset of finding super-easy stuff for FG to get on the table for the kids and find stuff that I can handle.  (He's a frozen pizza, chicken nugget & canned green beans cook. He's improved but I couldn't throw too much at him.) 

Right now I'm thankful that the sun is setting a bit earlier.  No, I don't want summer to end but if it has to and the kids need to start back to school, it's much easier to get them into bed when it's darker out than in June & July when it is fairly bright at 8:30 pm.  They are anxious and getting excited about the upcoming year too.  I think they are getting tired of each other and missing friends.  Playdates are great but they are together 24/7 and even when there's a break with other friends in the mix, they are still together.  The other night they were bickering and both near tears over little things. I said, "Ok, I think it's bedtime!" and oddly, they both agreed and went up to bed.  I wondered who took my kids and replaced them! 

I'll let you know what sort of deals I get at the store today.  I'm armed with coupons and sale flyers.  I was so excited when I saw that cereal boxes, the regular size ones, were $.48 at one of our stores.  I know it's a typo and will be corrected when we get there.  If for some odd reason they honor it, I'm buying 16 boxes (it's a buy 8 & get them at that price deal).  I would buy more but I don't have that much room to even store 16 boxes! Wish me and my sniffly nose luck today!

Label Reading

FG and I were having a conversation this past weekend about food.  An old friend of mine works at Whole Foods.  I've told FG that I should go work there - trade a discount on toys for a discount on food.  The only problem is, I can't afford Whole Foods! She was telling me that their employees are given a discount based on health. The healthier they are, the bigger the discount (I think it's up to 30% off).  In our conversation, FG and I both agreed that 1) sure we want to feed us all healthier 2) I would need that 30% off to come remotely close to what I save now!

I don't think I do all that bad feeding the kids really.  While I would LOVE to feed us better meats,  I don't do that horribly.  That is probably the one area that I could really really improve but the better quality, orgainic meats are out of the budget as of right now.  Someday. 

What I do is read a lot of labels.  Here are just a few of the things I do that help us cut out the junk.

• Cereal. I do allow my kids the sugary, kid-crap.  BUT I have always always made them mix it with something with no sugar.  They want Lucky Charms, fine but they gotta mix it with Joe's O's (Trader Joe's Cherrios), Rice Krispies or Corn Flakes.  The ratio is usually 1/2 & 1/2 or sometimes I can get away with 1/3 - 2/3 (2/3 being the no-sugar, no color boring stuff).  This just law in our house and they deal with it.
• Yogurt.  I used to let DS eat Trix yogurt.  Until I read labels.  No more Yoplait for me either!  No more getting enticed by the fun flavor combinations, or the bright colored packages because I'm pretty sure the color they use to dye the cardboard box is the same junk they put inside the yogurt.  They match.  Ewwww.  Nope, I discovered that Danimals has no HFCS, no artificial colors AND the containers are recycleable.  What a great company!  The kids want to have what their friends have though and I am willing to let them try the new Simply Gogurt that has no colors or HFCS. 
• Fruit Snacks.  Again, the same colors used to dye the boxes of those ever-kid-pleasing fruit snacks in their fun shapes and characters are probably the same dyes on the inside.  Also filled with HFCS.  I found a couple of different options that don't break the bank.  For a giant box at Costco of Tree Top fruit snacks, I pay $10. 
• Juice Boxes.  If I pick up a box at the store, I get the Capri Sun.  Not my all time favorite option because they are sugar.  I prefer, and will need to grab a package this week, of the 100% Juice Capri Sun.  Again, Costco usually has a good price on the variety pack. 
• Lunchables.  Some of you may have read my post about making my own with my Ziploc containers. It has been successful.  I just use my own pizza dough recipe and bake up a bunch of them at once.  I put sauce, cheese and pepperoni (usually turkey pepperoni. Shhh, dont' tell anyone!) into the container and boom, my own lunchable!  The kids haven't seemed to mind either. 

Those are just a few of the many many things I do.  I make my own homemade waffles, freeze them individually and then use those for breakfasts.  Same thing with pancakes. I've started making my own mini-pancakes instead of buying them.  I know exactly what is in them and how long ago they were made.  I started getting Log Cabin syrup with no HFCS.  Still has sugar but I am a firm believer that our bodies can process natural foods better than artificial.  So yes, we still have sugar and fats but it's a compromise.  I'm not doing that horribly feeding the fam.  The kids don't feel like freaks when they eat these things in front of their friends.  One little boy in DD's K class was like that. I felt sooo bad for him too.  His mother sent him with a snack every day and it was usually some off the wall thing like tortillas made from a grain I had to go look up.  While the other kids were munching away on their pretzels, Ritz crackers or Goldfish, he was tearing off pieces of his tortilla with his dirty dirty little fingers.  (I don't think the parents were all that keen on bathing either, this poor kid was a gross mess every day!)

I'm always looking for ways to improve.  DD loves bagels but has never had anything but a 100% whole wheat.  She loves cereal bars but I only buy them from Trader Joe's where they are 1) cheap & 2) made with natural ingredients.  Since she will eat them like candy, I prefer that option.  Yes, they go get plenty of sugar, they do get some artificial colors and HFCS but I've cut it out where I can feasibly do so without upsetting the natives. I'll just keep reading labels and hope that major food manufacturers get the picture that we don't want all the additives!

Menu Plan Monday! 8/16

No header picture - long story.

I'm trying. I really am!  My menu is all messed up from what I created 2 weeks ago but at least it's giving me ideas of what is in the freezer/pantry/fridge. :)

• Sunday - Leftover Buffet!! We had spaghetti, ribs, hot dogs, potato/zucchini pancakes, fruit.  The kids actually ate it (rare around here, they hate leftovers!) and the fridge got cleaned out.  I didn't have much to do except warm things up.
• Monday - Pulled Pork BBQ Sandwiches, green salad, noodles.
• Tuesday & Wednesday - I work in the evening, FG gets to figure out dinner.  One night will be chicken nuggets, applesauce & green beans & the other he may want me to defrost the leftover spaghetti sauce because those two meals he can really handle.
• Thursday - Grilled Chicken Fajita Quesadillas, green salad (peppers from my parent's garden)
• Friday - ? No idea. I'm hoping we can pick up take out!  Or I'll make some pizza. We haven't had that in awhile!
• Saturday - Tri-tip steak, pasta salad, cabbage slaw

A little pat on the back for myself today.  I have both kids playing nicely in the playroom together, with toys.  No TV.  Only a bit of bickering.  I'm getting the laundry & cleaning done.  Mondays have been good "stay home & catch up" days!  I have the pork roast in the crock pot for dinner.  I paid $6 for the roast and will easily get 3 meals (and a few lunches) out of it.  The BBQ sauce for it I make myself which uses a spicy ketchup I can only find in IL.  I need to get to the store to get some fresh fruit & veggies.  I also need to get a berry cobbler made.  I bought berries a week ago and haven't had time to make anything with them.  I've been on quite a blueberry kick though, eating them a lot. I did manage to freeze 2 pounds of them but gosh, I have eaten nearly 4 lbs on my own!  Blackberries were $.98 for a 1 lb pack at my store last week. So I'll toss together some blueberries, blackberries & strawberries for the cobbler. Ohhh, I can't wait for dessert tonight! 

I also started the kids on local honey.  Poor DS gets such sniffles from allergies!  I have tried Claritin and Zyrtec, both of which work ok but not great.  So I got a big ol jar of local honey at the farmers market last weekend and give each kid 1 tsp. per day.  In about 2 - 3 weeks, their bodies should adjust to the pollen and the allergies should be minimal or gone.  Yay!!!!  I have heard about this soooo much lately and there was recently an article in our paper about people who were able to stop all medicine, including allergy shots, after trying the honey.  I will keep you posted on our results!

While I'm at it - pictures!

A little glimpse of our summer....

Sunset on Donner Lake, July 4, 2010

How we watch fireworks every year - over Donner Lake

6th Birthday Family Party July, 2010

Her present from her brother.  SO excited!

She wanted the same cake as last year.  I think it turned out great!  (Yes, I made it)

Danish roll lesson with my Grandma

DS took a nice picture of us!

The true test... Dad said they were perfect! He hasn't had them in years and my mom could never get them right.  DD sure loved them too!

The Cast

DD doing her solo part during "So Long, Farewell" ("I leave and heave a sigh and say Goodbye. GOOOOODDDDDD BYYYYYYEEEEEEEEE")  Aug 1, 2010

Swimming with her BFF.  My dad put the big fountain in for the girls and they had a blast!

Zucchini!

My parents have a large garden this year. They built 4 more raised beds that are about 4 x 12 and are growing everything I can think of.  They have had rhubarb growing in their yard for several years too.  Now they have a blue million zucchini (why don't people only plant ONE plant?  It seems like about this time of year people just give the stuff away).  So I get sent home with large zucchini and several rhubarb stalks just about every time I am at their house.  Which is a few times a week during the summer because we use the pool so often.

Like any person of my generation, I turned to the internet looking for recipes of what the heck to do with all of this.  Zucchini Cakes. Flop.  I'm not big on plain zucch either.  I'll occasionally saute it in a stir fry but it's just not my favorite.  Right now I have some shredded and draining in the fridge with some shredded russett potatoes to make potato pancakes.  I'm betting if I just go with how *I* normally make potato pancakes (which is without a recipe really, just by how I think they should look), they will be better and everyone will eat them. 
Then there's the ol' standby - Zucchini Bread.  I made this and DD loved it.  She even knew it had zucchini in it! 

Zucchini Bread

1 1/2 c. all purpose flour

1 1/2 c. whole wheat flour

1 t. salt

1 t. baking soda

1 t. baking powder

2 t. cinnamon

1/2 t. ground nutmeg

3 eggs

1 t. vanilla extract

1/2 c. vegetable oil

1/2 c. applesauce

1 c. brown sugar

1 c. granulated sugar

2 - 2 1/2c. grated zucchini (do not drain)

1 c. chopped nuts (optional)

2-3 T. raw sugar (optional)

Grease and flour 2 loaf pans.  Heat oven to 325 degrees.

Beat eggs, vanilla, oil, applesauce, and sugars together until well mixed.

Sift (or stir like I do) together dry ingredients and add to wet mixture.  Stir until combined.

Add zucchini and nuts and stir until combined.

Pour batter into prepared pans.

Sprinkle top of batter with raw sugar.

Bake for 40 - 60 minutes (start testing at 40 min.) or until tester comes out clean.  Cool in pan 10 minutes and remove to cool completely on wire rack.

This bread is so moist and yummy that what was left of my last loaf spoiled after several days.  I'm just happy DD ate it!  I am out of wheat flour so today I used only all purpose flour.  It's a bit less "healthy" that way but it comes out fine.  The applesauce and fresh zucchini make the bread so yummy!

Meal planning and schedules

There's been a chill in the air, the sun is setting a bit earlier.  Yesterday really felt more like September than August.  (This will all change in a few days when we have a heat wave in the low 100's with lows in the 60's).  I looked up the bus schedule, talked to a mom "in-the-know" from the school about some rumors I had heard and had a craving for chicken pot pie.  As much as I LOVE summer and don't want it to get cold and grey and have short days, I am also hitting the stage I do every August.... the desire for a routine and a schedule.

My boss talked to me yesterday and it looks like I have two weeks of craziness left before I'll be working every Monday and Tuesday during the day and still every other Saturday.  Yipee!!!!  That leaves Wed. am for school volunteering, our business or myself, Wed afternoon for our business where we are on a tight schedule.  Thursday & Friday for school volunteering, household care, whatever may need done for the business and gee, maybe even some time for ME.  Let me tell you, that is a big ol' carrot dangling in front of me! I cannot wait to have every evening free, every afternoon without the ulcer growing while I impatiently wait for FG to get home so I literally pass him in the doorway as I rush off to work.  I'll have Tuesday nights off for all the school functions that happen a few times a month, the PTA meetings on Tuesday afternoons once per month. I'll have Wednesday afternoons to be home and wait for the bus which will now arrive 45 minutes earlier for "Professional Development".  I'll be home to tackle homework and projects each night. (hmmm, that could be the downside here!)

I checked out The $5 Dinner Mom Cookbook at the library a couple of weeks ago.  I've been reading the tips more than the recipes so far.  Last week I had a bit of extra cash and I made amazing use of it.  I got all the toiletries we needed, most of the school supplies and lots of food at great bargains.  My best bargain.... spent $86 at Target (we have a very very limited grocery section at our Target - no produce or anything like that so this was all school supplies, cleaning supplies, toiletries and some packaged food like cereal) but I saved $40.  Out of all of my shopping, I got 9 boxes of cereal and didn't pay more than $2 for each.  The ones I did pay $2 for were GIANT too. :)  I got razors for FG and I at a steal too.  I used my coupons wisely with sales and BOGO offers.  Yay for me!!!

I also managed to make a menu for roughly 2 weeks.  It, of course, got thrown out of whack immediately when we had DS's teacher from last year over to dinner. What an enjoyable evening it was!!!  But I wasn't going to serve her the hot dogs I had on the menu that night! Instead I got a great deal on some petite sirloin steak which I marinated all day to tenderize it.  Corn was on sale.  She brought a salad.  I made a peach pie with fresh peaches that were on sale too.  I made homemade bread in my bread machine.  All in all, I think I spent about $15 on the dinner total.  It has felt good to have a menu again and soon, I will be sharing it on here again.  Hopefully with some new recipes and some more interesting content than what I've had lately!

Other items of note... DD finally pulled out her first loose tooth.  It's been hanging there for over a week.  While I was at work this past Tuesday, FG had the kids outside playing and DS's bike chain came loose, which meant he had no brakes.  Going down the slope of our street.  He panicked, FG didn't have much time to think so he literally used his body to stop DS from getting hurt.  Instead FG got hurt pretty badly and most likely cut an artery in his ankle.  From the puddles of bright orange blood I cleaned up and the way it took a few hours to stop bleeding heavily that's my best guess.  We are not sure if he broke something, sprained something or just really bruised his bone but he did something nasty to it beyond a deep cut.  He couldn't put any weight on it yesterday and was ready to go get himself a walking boot.  This morning he woke up and it felt a lot better.  He could bear weight on it but not his full weight.  We'll see how it is.  I must say, I'm a pretty good wound cleaner!  I got home and fixed him all up and have been changing his dressing as needed.  Poor DS feels awful that he hurt his dad but keeps calling his dad his "hero" for saving his life.  :D

Giving myself the day

Well the kids too.  I planned to take them to the beach today but decided not to.  I am not sure if DD's BFF and her brother are coming over here this afternoon or not.  Their parents, while extremely nice and great people, are a tad, um, unorganized and flaky.  While I am an overachiving planner and I know I drive my friends bat-$!@# crazy with it, they are somewhat the opposite.  A planner?  A calendar?  eh! Who needs 'em!  Yes, the thought makes my skin all tingly and I get light-headed as mine is rarely a few feet from me and certainly never left at home when I am out and about.  God bless whoever invented the electronic organizer. 

But because I decided to give myself the day and I have a list a mile long of things I would like to accomplish, I am not doing anything!  I stayed in bed until an embarassing hour.  The kids were up and watching TV (no need for mom anymore, they can both work the darn thing perfectly).  I finally rolled out of bed and showered.  I finally made them brunch. Do I know what's for dinner?  Nope. That's on my list of things I want to get done today - read through some recipes and possibly try something new!  DS has requested hot dogs or steak.  Kids are weird.

I just realized it's nearly noon.  Holy crap. I have nothing done besides feeding my kids one meal. At least I cooked it for them and it was a large meal so I doubt they will really want any lunch soon.  It's a gorgeous day outside too.  We should be out enjoying it! 

Am I the only one who does this?  It seems like so many people I know get so many things accomplished. I guess they don't laze around in bed all morning.  I'm feeling guilty yet free all in one big ball of confusion.  I feel like I'm wasting time but still enjoying slowing down a bit.  So what is wrong with me?  I'm going to be kicking myself later when I think of all I need to get done and just piddled the time away.  I know I'm going to feel guilty, scratch that because I already do, that my kids are watching TV instead of playing a game with them or taking them somewhere fun and interesting with friends.  Why can't I just feel normal and happy?!  I really do think I'm losing my mind some days. Stress is killing off brain cells way faster than any amounts of alcohol. 

Now, off to make a couple of phone calls, write out a list so I can cross things off and hopefully get my rear in gear!  What are you doing today?