A Recipe

Umm..  Yeah.  I have been doing stuff.  And uh... it's been nice?  And the weather is great (mostly) and I've started to meet people.  And the whole homeschooling thing is not my bag and if I ever really thought about doing it with Oliver, this Spring has shown me that I am not the best parent teacher.

At any rate, here is a recipe.

Saucepan Brownies*.

Ingredients:

1/2 cup butter
2 oz unsweetened chocolate
1 cup sugar
2 eggs slightly beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla
3/4 cup flour
1/2 cup nuts (optional)

Preheat oven to 350 F

Melt butter and chocolate together
Add sugar.  Let cool completely
Add the eggs, vanilla, flour, and nuts.  Mix together until there are no lumps

Pour into a greased pan either (8x8 or 9x9)
Bake for 25-30 min.


*  I am sure that this recipe is already floating around the internet.  However, it is the recipe that my mom got from my grandmother, who probably got it off a box (or something).  And this is the recipe that tastes like home.  Just like I only make the pancake recipe from the Joy of Cooking 1972 edition.

Trick or Update

Another week, another week of fashionable mommy dressing or not.

Mommy "Style"

Monday

Tuesday

I don't what it is about Tuesday that makes me want to put on yoga pants and call it a day, but I do.

Wednesday: Jeans and a t-shirt

Thursday

Friday

Accomplishment: Nothing major.  Just some cleaning stuff, and really I've not be good at keeping up with the daily cleaning stuff.  I get tired/bored/frustrated over picking up the same mess over and over again.  Picking up after the kids, doing dishes, the 20th poop or pee accident this week.  I try to think of cleaning as a process, but seriously when I have to pick up the same freaking mess for the 3rd time in 2 hours, I get a little annoyed and that makes me not want to clean up the rest of the house.I guess I need to re-adjust my thought process again.

High/Low: High: I love going trick or treating with the kids.  Oliver and Phil loved running up to the door and ringing the bell and saying "trick or treat".  Oliver was also very sweet and kind to his younger brother: he waited until Phil got to the door to ring the bell and helped him up and down the stairs, all unprompted by either Matt or me.  It was awesome.   Low: Fred has been whining.  He really wants to "help" me do whatever I'm doing and I don't like it.

Activities: A lot of errand running.  I had to get new tags for the cars and since I was wait until the last minute that meant going to the tag office, going to Target, the grocery store, etc... We played on the playground after school almost everyday this week so the kids got a lot of energy out.  And on Halloween we  went trick or treating around the neighborhood.

Menu: breakfast: oatmeal most days, yesterday eggs.  lunch: sandwiches.  Dinner: Monday: Sausage, rice, and spinach.   Tuesday: Meatloaf, zuchinni, and rice. Wednesday: Chicken, mac-n-cheese, and broccoli.  Thursday: frozen pizza.  Friday: tacos

PS. I never really liked Halloween as a kid.  I guess because my mother didn't like it, but having kids who love to dress up makes me really appreciate it's qualities.

Pictures from Halloween: 

Gratitude:  I'm thankful my husband has a great job that can support us.

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. 

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.  

A week

I try to update everyday. But this week has been typical of why I don't. I guess that the kids get in the way, literally.  Phil is in my lap trying to type and asking for  PBS kids.  During the morning when the kids are school, I'm either cleaning the house, working in the yard, or running errands.  Le sigh.

Mommy "style": Here is the mommy style I did for the week:

Tuesday:

Wednesday

Friday:  Very lazy.  I ran errands and then worked in the yard while the kids were at school.  And then it was too late to change before it was time to pick them up.

Saturday

Accomplishments:  I've been working on redoing the containers for fall/winter vegetable gardening.  I'm done with them.  And now I'm working on the front planting bed.  It's a bit more slow going.  There are a lot of weeds and I'm trying to loosen up the soil and work in compost for better growth and transplants.  And at one point, I actually had the whole place looking neat.  However, as you can see by Friday afternoon, the kids and I had wreaked the place. I have also been to Walmart AND only bought what I meant to buy.  It was pretty awesome.

High/Low:  High: On Thursday, I went to see a concert with Matt.  That was a lot fun.  I even dressed up for the concert, and wore heels.  And I didn't feel like the sloppiest person there.  Low: Last night's (Saturday) bedtime. was a marathon of whining, getting out of bed, and shouting by me.  Phil has taken it into his head that bedtime isn't for him and that he doesn't ever need to sleep.  Honestly, if he didn't share a room with Oliver, then I would "lock" him in his room and walk away. Do the Supernanny method of toddler cry it out.  Unfortunately, he does share a room and Oliver has a hard time going to sleep with Phil crying. So, it is a battle.  Last night I had it with the getting out of bed roaming around, so I put Phil back into bed every time he got out of bed.  It took about 20 times before he just stayed in bed.  And then like 2 minutes later, he fell asleep.  I'm hoping tonight is better, but I'm not holding my breath.

Activities: Tuesday: school for Oliver, and grocery shopping for me and the younger two.  I then came home and cleaned up the house "mostly" and worked on laundry.  Wednesday: Fred had his 9 month doctor's appointment.  He is a big boy at over 30 inches long, and 20 pounds.  Technically, he is the size of a 12 month baby.  If he keeps up this trajectory, he'll be colossal.  Future linebacker type stuff. After the doctor's appointment, we went to the park for awhile and ate lunch there.  And then picked up the older two from school.  Thursday: yard work during school.  That evening, Matt and I went to Depeche Mode.  That was fun. Friday: during school I washed my car.  I was upsold into getting the thing waxed and detailed outside.  It looks really nice.  My car hasn't looked this nice since I bought it 3 years ago.  The money both feels like a waste and like a really good "investment".  Investment is in quotes because really it isn't an investment.  Fred and I went to Walmart to kill time while they did the car.  That was fun. I bought stuff to make a wreath.  After school, we played and had fun.

At some point during the week, the kids decided to make waterfall using pool noodles and the water spout.

Saturday: Matt's unit with the National Guard had it's family day.  That was really neat.  This year, they had out different things they use.  They let kids look into one of the Humvees they use, look at the type of weapons, and see radios.  It was really neat.  There was also a bounce house for the kids and a rope to either climb or swing from.  There was also training for the FRG (Family Readiness Group). I'm willing to participate in the FRG meetings, go to events put on by the FRG, and if they really need somebody to be an officer, I'm more than happy to be one.  However, I really don't want to be trained to do stuff.  And I really don't want to sit in a 2ish hour meeting to do it.  There were something 60 completely text filled PowerPoint slides.  It was a bit tedious.  I left after 10 slides, I'm glad the baby started to fuss.  I know that it sounds mean and complaining, but I guess since I don't sit in meetings at work, I've gotten out of practice of sitting there half playing attention to things and thinking about other things (like how much I don't want to be in a meeting).

Menu: Tuesday: oatmeal, grocery store sushi, chicken with mushrooms and kale, garlic bread on the side. Wednesday: greek yogurt with a bit of jam, peanut butter sandwich and a banana. Dinner: lamb with rice, spinach.   Thursday: waffles, egg salad sandwich, and nachos for dinner.  Actually beer was for dinner, which would explain the hangover on Friday morning.  Friday: Greek yogurt, tuna sandwich, Dinner was bean and rice tacos.  I made the tortillas from scratch, but they weren't very good or "oh my goodness amazeballs" that people are always claiming homemade tortillas are.  I'll give it one more shot to be better.... Saturday: bagel, eggs,and fruit.  Lunch: chicken, cornbread, potato salad, and greens.  Dinner: pizza with carrots on the side.

Long entry is long, so I'll leave my thoughts about my first year's garden experiment until later.