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. 

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

A weekend

Matt came home and I decided to spend time with him rather than updating.  So here's another double shot:

Mommy "Style":

Saturday

Sunday

I really have no excuse for the less than stellar quality of the shots.  In both, I'm trying to do it quickly.  







Again, I really need to start doing the pictures earlier in the day before stains and tiredness set in.

Accomplishments: I mowed the grass again today.  And yesterday, I cooked a couple of new things.

High/Low:  High: Phillip pooped IN the potty today! So proud of him.  And I yes, I realize this is why the world at large mocks mommy bloggers.  I know that the vast majority of people poop where they should on a regular basis and that my child will join those ranks soon.  But if you're asking about a high point of my day, then yes having my middle child poop where he should is pretty amazing.  Low:  I have noticed that my kids have gotten WAY too much screen time recently and I'm not sure why.  It hasn't been too hot, I haven't been playing Candy Crush at all, but there has been a lot of screen time.  I need to figure out both why I'm letting them watch too much t.v and play too many computer games and how to combat the too much screen time.  And I know to some extant, I encourage or at least give approval to screen time.  So, this is something I need to work on myself.

Activities: Saturday, we went to Target in the morning and then came home and watched our new Curious George dvd. And I wonder why my kids watch a lot television.  Today, we played some in the house, my father came over for lunch and to discuss our plans for the trip north to Pennsylvania.  And I mowed the grass.  I then took the baby out and we ran some errands.  I love taking only one kid out.  It's like a vacation.

Menu: Saturday: Breakfast: bagels  Lunch: Pizza Dinner: Roast chicken seasoned with curry power, wholeish wheat biscuits (half white flour half whole wheat flour), sauteed zuchinni.  Hopefully, I can get the recipes posted tomorrow or the next day.  Sunday: Breakfast: biscuits Lunch:  Curried chicken salad sandwiches, cherries, and chips.  The kids had hot dogs and grapes.   Dinner: lasagna cupcakes with mixed vegetable tomato sauce and the pesto croissant roll ups.   AA 

Lazy Sunday

Mommy "Style":

Don't look too closely, my shirt has black paint and a mysterious red stain on it.  I need to remember to take the picture right after I get dressed so there aren't any stains on my clothes.

Accomplishment: Washed, dried, folded, and put away a load of laundry all on the same day!  The clothes were even still hot.

High/Low:  High: Getting the kids to make a birthday card.  Low:  Getting out of bed, it was so comfortable and I haven't been able to sleep recently so it was pretty painful getting out.  And honestly, today was one of those days were nothing was spectacularly wonderful or spectacularly awful.  Today was an average run of the mill day.  

Activities: Painted a card for a birthday party tomorrow.  Planted some more carrots and a lettuce blend.  Today was another boring day at home.  We didn't go anywhere or do anything fun.  There really wasn't a reason to change out of our pajamas other than one shouldn't wear pajamas all weekend.  

Menu: Breakfast: bagel and the kids had an all fruit popsicle.  Lunch: meat and cheese roll ups with peaches and chips.  Dinner: mini chicken potpie except I substituted almost the entire thing with other things: zucchini for broccoli, puff pastry for pie crust.  And while I was making it, I could see the allure of food/recipe blogging.  One can really take and make the different recipes fun.  I'm not that creative when it comes to cooking and being able to come up with recipes seems to me to be super creative.  But I think that almost made a new recipe!  If I make this again, I'll do the photo spread and do the whole write up.

An Inverse

Mommy "Style":  

I really like the combination of grey and pink. :)  This is usually how I do color combinations, neutral bottom and pastel top.  One day, I'll own and wear bright yellow jeans but until then I'm going to take the small victories.

Accomplishment: I did a really deep clean on the shower stall this morning.  Yay?  And I washed my hair.  

High/Low:  High: I made a new recipe for dinner and it turned out really well.  I wish the kids would have eaten it... and I hope one day they will.  Low: The threat of rain cancelled any plans to go to the park. And there was whining.  A lot of whining.

Activities:  We stayed at home all day because of the threat of a drenching thundershower.  We had a lot of thunder and dark clouds but no rain.  We cleaned in the morning, played computer games, blew bubbles, and then built block towers.  

Menu: Breakfast: Pancakes.  Lunch: Peanut butter sandwiches, kiwi and grapes. Dinner:  I made Pasta with Bacon, Peas, and Ricotta.  It is from my Essentials of Classic Italian cooking by Marcella Hazan.  If I decide to make it again (and I will) I'll probably do the whole blogger thing of taking pictures and adding the recipe, properly attributed. The kids had pasta, peas, and their ricotta on the side.