Tuesday, October 29, 2013

Work Week

I have got to find time or put up with the fussing from the kids to update.  I really like doing this and so I should really do it.

Mommy "Style"

 I don't have the whole week put here are some of outfits I wore:


Monday: jeans and a t-shirt



Tuesday: yoga pants and a t-shirt



Wednesday:


Thursday: Running pants and a t-shirt. 

Friday: Jeans and a t-shirt.

Accomplishments:  Being crafty.  And enjoying it.

High/Low:  High:  Getting good news about the job.   Low: feeling overwhelmed again.

Activities: Mostly going to school and playing on the playground afterwards.  We've been working on potty training and sometimes it seems like it has clicked.  And other times, it hasn't and that is frustrating.

On the more interesting side things: 

Fred pulled the cereal off of the spaghetti noodle as his activity. 



 This activity was originally over wivesunscripted.com and of course found on pinterest.  I'm not sure if this blog is really for fashion/style/my thoughts or just testing ideas and crap off of pinerest.  

We also craved pumpkins and stuff.

Menu:  Breakfast: either oatmeal or cereal.  It's been fancy over here. Lunch: either sandwiches or fast food.  I've been loving the pretzel cheeseburger from Wendy's.  I'll be sad when they retire it. Dinner: Monday: Pasta, sausage, broccoli.  Tuesday: pizza.  I think the clothes made me feel lazy. Wednesday: chili
Thursday: Beef-stir fry with Sesame Seed noodles.  I have had inconsistent results with the Pioneer woman's recipes.  Some are freaking awesome, and others are crap.  This was amazing.  I will definitely use it again.  I  really liked the meal.  I usually screw-up stir fry, but needed to use up the meat since I defrosted it and didn't want to waste the money.  Friday:  La Parilla.  The kids had tacos.  And Matt and I had fajitas.  We're starting our farewell to favorite restaurants tour. 


Saturday, October 26, 2013

The weekend past

Mommy "style"

Saturday:

I went out with friends to a movie and I felt I needed to look nice.  Matt complained because I looked nicer for friends than him.  But if I wore nice clothes around the kids, then I would get stains or spills on them and be highly annoyed.

Sunday:  Yoga pants and a t-shirt.  I kept hoping I would get off my butt and go for a real run, but I didn't.  

Accomplishments:  Hanging out with friends twice in one month!  And I got to spend fun time with the family.

High/Low: High:  I really liked Gravity.  We all suggested something that we didn't want to think about as in no fancy "art house" movies.  However, all I've done for the past week is think about that movie.  It was really well written and directed.  The acting was also really well done.  I forgot I was watching Sandra Bullock.  I didn't forget I was watching George Clooney, but I guess that's because I see his pictures a lot on the on-line/supermarket paparazzi sites. Not that I go to them often.  Low:  not (real) running on Sunday

Activities: Saturday: we went out to lunch and then to the craft store to make the spooky spiders.  And then I went to a movie. Sunday: after listening to a lot of whining, we went to the park in the mid-afternoon.  I attempted to run to the park so I could get some kind of run in, but lunch was sitting very heavily on my stomach and I wasn't able to get into the groove, so I just walked.  And felt fat.

Menu: Saturday: made pumpkin pancakes.  They turned out really good.  I liked them and ate up the entire recipe.  Except the three that the kids had on their plates.  I wished I had ginger, but I didn't.  Martha Stewart makes a mean recipe.  Lunch:  Moes.  Dinner: Chicken from the grocery store, fruit and crackers..  Sunday: crackers, fruit and  cheese for breakfast.  Lunch: hotdogs.  Dinner:  Chicken tetrazzini.  It was really good that night.


Wednesday, October 23, 2013

Halloween

First the craft:

I wanted to do and post something that we've done for Halloween decoration.

This spider fits the ticket:

Supplies:  styrofoam floral balls, craft paint, goggly eyes, pipe cleaners


First,  we rolled styrofoam balls in craft paint





Or in Oliver's case covered them in tape

And then poked holes for the pipe cleaners


And finally stuck pipe cleaners into the balls

And added some goggely eyes.

Yesterday, we carved pumpkins.  And by we, I mean me.

Scooping out the seeds


I drew the faces on before I cut them.  I am not a very fancy carver and have little patience to learn so it old school over here.


This pumpkin is Fred's. He has two teeth on the bottom and when I asked him what he wanted the mouth to look like, he smiled.

And here is the outside:

Add caption

The big spider is from Spoonful

Overall, our outside is pretty much off my Pinterest boards.

Saturday, October 19, 2013

Poor, poor neglected blog

 So, uhhh. It's been over a week.  I've been busy.  Or not really, but I've been anxious which tends to manifest as me not being able to do shit either around the house or when I have things that actually need to be done.

At any rate, I haven't updated regularly and I'm not all that good about taking pictures right now of my clothes and most of them are on my phone anyways.

Mommy "Style":  Shorts and t-shirts, and jeans and t-shirts.  I wear the crap out of Target $5 t-shirts and then feel guilty when I throw them out stained and stretched out at the end of the season.

I'll come back an update with pictures, (hopefully).

Accomplishments: Nothing huge.  I have done some outside decorating for Halloween.  Oliver is super into the holiday this year, so it seemed like a good idea to dress up.

High/Low: Low: Matt interviewed for a job out in Seattle.  We're still waiting to hear back about the job.  He really wants it.  I really want him to get the job.  It would be a good career move, we think.  And with a company that is doing interesting things in Matt's field.  He has ANOTHER telephone interview after already having an in-face interview in California.  We been waiting to hear back so it's making him anxious, I'm anxious because he is AND I really like the idea of moving. At the same time, I love living near my family and having my kids grow up knowing their grandparents in a way that I never did.  And while there are flights between Atlanta and Seattle, the flights are expensive, long, and expensive.  So while we'd visit, it wouldn't be the same as even moving to New York or even Denver.  So, it's been somewhat nerve racking.  High: the kids are playing very nicely, mostly.

Activities: I got my drivers licence renewed. I had to wait about 2 hrs.  And while that is a long to wait, I guess it could have been longer.  Except, 2 hrs when you have a young child is very long and the restless energy in the place makes even 10 min seem like an hour.   Last weekend was spent killing time.  We thought we would hear back about the job on Monday, so we were waiting for Monday. Sunday, I went for a 6k run.  And then in the afternoon, because I was SO RESTLESS, I walked up to Starbucks and then to the park with Fred, so that was another 2 miles.  Overall, Sunday I walked/ran a 10k, which is my current fitness goal.  Monday, I picked the kids up from their grandmothers and came home.  Tuesday, there was no school and we stayed at home all day.   Wednesday, school and nothing in the afternoon.  Same for Thursday.  Friday, Fred and I went to the botanical gardens with some friends while the older two were in school.  After school we played on the school playground and came home.

Menu: Weekend: breakfast: nothing.  I know I should eat, but sometimes when the older kids aren't home and Matt wakes up very late, I don't see any point.  Lunch: sandwiches.  Dinner: Saturday yummy mexican, Sunday: General Tso's meatballs.  The meatball part was really good.  The sauce wasn't.  I used a couple of sub, and it didn't turn out right.  I think I'll re-make the meatballs, and use the pan drippings for a gravy, more like Swedish meatballs. During the week: dinners: Monday: bratwurst, Tuesday: chicken with eggplant and zucchini, Wednesday: a horrible lentil pilaf.  I make lentil pilaf once in awhile and usually it turns out pretty good, but this time I over cooked the rice and everything tasted awful.  Dinner fail.  Thursday: meatloaf hamburgers  Friday: tacos.  And one of the few things I don't like about my neighborhood is that I am no longer near grocery stores with ripe avocados at a decent price.  





Wednesday, October 9, 2013

Hump Day

Am I the only one thinks "Hump Day" sounds like a bad porn title?  Yes?  Okay then...

Mommy "style"

Monday: 






In the interest of being totally and completely honest about my clothing choices.  I usually only wear real clothes in the morning.  I drop the kids off in real clothes except when I plan on going for a run and then I pick them up in real clothes.  By the time Matt comes from work, I'm in usually either yoga pants if it is cool/cold or running shorts if it is warm/hot.  If I know that I'm going to be going out in the afternoon or evening, I'll obviously keep wearing "real" clothes, but more often than not, I'm getting comfy on the couch.

Tuesday:

Back into slacker gear.  And yikes, I need to clean the mirror!

Wednesday:



Preschooler style too!

Accomplishment: I have been cooking off of pinterest again.  And it has been tasty or at least worthy of a second cooking.

High/Low: High: Phil had NO ACCIDENTS yesterday.  Low: Phil was on one massive meltdown yesterday.  Neither eating, drinking, playing, or watching t.v helped the meltdown.  It was a very long day. 

Activities: Monday: I made carrot cupcakes while the older kids were in school.  After school, lots of playing in the backyard.  Tuesday: while Phil took a much needed nap in the morning, Fred and I finished planting the front flower area for the fall.  It looks nice.  I need to take a picture and post it.  After school, more playing in the backyard.  Wednesday: Fred and I went to Target in the morning and planned to spend very little money but didn't.  The eye of Target was upon me and hypnotized me into spending more money than I planned on cheap clothes.  But everything except a hoodie was on sale and generally much needed.  After school, a little t.v and then more playing in the backyard.  I'm loving this weather, because I really want to spend outside and the kids do sooooo much better at bedtime when they spend a lot of time outside.

Menu: Monday: yogurt for breakfast, lunch was left overs from Sunday dinner.  Dinner was Salmon cakes

They turned okay.  I don't think I'll make the salmon cake part again, but the yogurt sauce was really good

 
Tuesday: cheese for breakfast, chicken deli meat sandwich for lunch.  And dinner was Mediterranean baked chicken.  There were some problems with this recipe for me.  One I need more tomatoes than what I used.  And the bigger problem was that it very bland.  Some of that is I didn't put salt and pepper on the chicken when I cooked it.  But overall the it need some more herbs.  But it was pretty easy and even better easy to clean up, so I'll probably put into to the bi-monthly rotation.  

Wednesday: carrot cupcake We'll pretend that since it has carrots in it, it must be heathly. Lunch: chicken deli meat sandwiches.  Dinner: eggs, bacon, toast, and strawberries.


Tuesday, October 8, 2013

extra busy weekend

Mommy "Style":   Sad and tired clothes.  I didn't take pictures but it was the same stuff I wear every day.

Accomplishment:  I ran a 5k on Saturday night.  It was awesome.  I ran with some friends and actually ran most of it and did it with one of my best times.  And I did some planting.

High/low: High: A good race time.  Low: Having to leave a festival early because of whining.

Activities:  Saturday; I went to the grocery store and then later in the evening ran the 5k.  After the 5k, my friends and I went out for a snack and a drink.  The snack was great, but the drinks were very light on the alcohol.  And while I realize that we shouldn't had much to drink, having a drink that had what we paid to have the good stuff in it would have been nice.

Sunday: I did laundry in the morning.  And then we went to a fall festival.  The first part was great, the kids played in the kid zone and had a great time.  After lunch, when it was time to go look at the art and crafts, Oliver acted tired, Phil fell asleep, and Fred got very cranky.  So we left.  And for whatever reason, I wasn't feeling the festival which normally I love.  I'm going to blame the heat and the kids.  After we came home and hydrated and rested, I planted some of the fall stuff for the front yard. It felt like a really good and productive weekend.



Menu: Saturday: bagels for breakfast.  Tuna for lunch.  And a burger very late for dinner.  I knew that I didn't want to run with anything in my stomach other than water.  Sunday: bagel for breakfast, gyro for lunch, and roast pork with zucchini and rice for dinner.


Saturday, October 5, 2013

Rounding out the week

Mommy "style" 

Thursday: Jean shorts and a t-shirt

Friday

Nothing fancy

Accomplishment:  I did some work around the house.  It's been a very lazy week.  I don't know why I haven't been more motivated to do stuff.  I guess I go in these cycles.  I'm usually pretty good for about 3 weeks and then I take a week off.  And then I either get grossed out by the house or watch an episode of Hoarders and get my act together.

High/Low: High: Not having to wait several hours to see the OB-GYN.  Low:  I have fat calves and I'm short.  I don't know if my calves are muscular or just fat, but it makes buying boots incredibly difficult. But I saw a pair of rain boots on the Facebook exchange I'm on and they were so cute and at a really good price, so I foolishly bought them hoping they would work.  They don't and since they're rubber and high quality, I can't expand them.  So, now I have a pair of lovely (expensive) boots I can't wear.  Lame.  

Activities: OB-Gyn appointment.  And then Matt stayed home from work yesterday.  That was nice.

Menu:  Breakfast both days: Bagel.  Thursday for lunch I had Taco Bell.  I tried something different and now I remember why I buy only one thing there.  It was very gross. I had to get a cookie from a good place to wash the taste out.  Dinner Thursday: Matt wasn't home so we had chicken covered in yogurt and herbs and baked until done.  It turned out very well.  Friday: Zaxby's for lunch, and Chile Rellanoes for dinner.

Random Grumpiness


Friday, October 4, 2013

Monday thru Wednesday

I've got nothing catchy.

Mommy "style": 

Monday:


The camera is doing weird things to my face

A bit better
I had to be at the courthouse on Monday.  And I felt that I needed to look extra nice, so I bought new pants and a new shirt.  And I felt so awesome.  I felt like a grownup and I really missed dressing like this on a regular basis.  I don't know what the future holds for my return to paid work.  But I would like to be something where I can dress nicely.



Tuesday:


Back to the mommy uniform of a t-shirt and jeans.

Wednesday: shorts and a t-shirt.  I know I'm really changing it up!

Accomplishment: Legal issues are cleared up.  It was a satisfactory conclusion to the problems.  I don't know if I'll ever write my story for the public, but maybe one day in the future.

High/Low: High: I was able to read almost all of a book waiting for the judge.  Low: I got to read almost an entire book waiting for the judge.  :/  Granted, it wasn't long or a difficult read, but still it was a very long to wait.

Activities: Monday: court.  I needed to be downtown at 9:30.  I also needed to drop off Baby Fred because I really didn't want to have him inside of the courtroom.  If Matt had been able to attend, I would have brought Fred to court, but Matt had jury duty in the same courthouse.  My sister was able to watch Fred, but I had to meet her at her house, which is a bit south of the courthouse.  I left my house at 6:30 and barely made it on time to court at 9:30.  The judge and ADA didn't show up until 11 (ish).  And then they started a bond hearing before they got to what they needed me for.  It was a semi-high profile case/defendant so the defense attorneys brought in several witnesses to try to sway the judge into granting a reasonable bond.  The two I was able to watch were from out of town and more of business associates than personal references although the defense attempted to use them as a personal reference.  The ADA grilled the witnesses on the cross-examination.  It was very interesting to see "real life" courtroom stuff after watch A LOT of Law and Order.  One witness was from NYC and the ADA seemed surprised that the witness didn't have a drivers license or owned his apartment.  They went through two witnesses when the judge decided that it was time for lunch and would have done the thing he needed me to do, but the ADA who needed to be there for me was stuck in another courtroom.  So, we broke for lunch.  I ran to my sister's house to nurse the baby and then went back to court to wait for the judge for almost an hour.  I did my thing and was able to leave.  I picked up Fred and drove home to wait for my mothers-in-law to drop off the older two boys.

Tuesday: Much less exciting.  School for Oliver while Phil, Fred, and I came back home and tried to get Phil to sleep but he didn't want to nap even though he was really, really tired.  After school, played in the yard until supper time.

Wednesday:  School for Phil and Oliver.  I went to the garden center and bought stuff for the front of the house flower garden area and then went to Costco for the bi-monthly stock up.  I will need to go again before I really want to, but we'll need more stuff.

Menu:  Monday: Breakfast: Sausage biscuits from McDonalds.  Lunch: skipped but ate a Jr. Bacon cheeseburger from Wendys around 3:30.  Dinner: hot dogs, fruit and chips.  Matt wasn't home for dinner because he was stuck on jury duty.

Tuesday: Breakfast: toast. Lunch: peanut butter sandwich and fruit.  Dinner: frozen pizza (obviously not frozen).

Wednesday: Breakfast: I think I skipped it.  Lunch: chicken noodle soup.  Dinner: Middle Eastern/Greek style dinner: ground lamb sauteed with onions and then placed into bulgar wheat with a lot of chopped mint. Spinach on the side.  The flavors were really good together.  I don't know if was "real" Middle Eastern but I'm sure you'd find similar stuff because I basically did tabbouleh with lamb added.  Maybe adding some cucumbers would have also been good. At any rate, here's a picture




Thursday, October 3, 2013

Weekend Update

I'll do the week in a couple of parts.  Here's stuff for the weekend.

Mommy "style":  

Saturday: I wore the grey shirt and pink shorts that I've worn multiple times before.

Sunday:


This weekend had a lot of pink in it.


Accomplishment:   I went to the grocery store and bought 4 boxes of tea.  

High/Low:  High: I went out with my closest friend on Saturday night.  It was nice to eat a meal and catch up without children trying to crawl into my lap.  Low:  I've been feeling lazy again and not getting stuff done.

Activities: Saturday: I went out my friend.  It was nice.  We ate a fancy Mexican restaurant that is in the historical area of a town between our two houses.  I had not eaten at that restaurant.  The food was good.  She got a something strange and I can't remember the name but it was like a soup that you wrapped in a tortilla.  I had a flank steak cooked.  Her food was different.  I really liked my food.  The service was not very good though.  It took them a really long time to take our drink orders and then they weren't particularly attentive during the meal.  

Sunday:  We bought a new filing cabinet since we have finally gotten tired of our old one not keeping the bars up.  After that purchase, I dropped Matt at home and went grocery shopping at the really big ethnic grocery store in our area.  I love that place.  I couldn't do my regular shopping there because I'd waste soo much money.  Or maybe if I shopped there all the time, I'd be less likely to over buy.  At any rate, I bought a lot of yummy tea.

Menu: Saturday: waffles with sausage crumbled into them.  Chicken salad sandwich.  Dinner: flank steak with beans and rice.  Sunday: no breakfast, quesadilla, dinner: scallops with Swiss chard on the side. A