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September 09 What to Bake?I have been cleaning up the kitchen a smidge: organizing, rearranging, moving, that sort of thing. As I was cleaning (a smidge), I found mountain of disorder. To be honest, I was surprised at (1) the amount of time some food items had spent in the kitchen without being used and (2) the duplicates of some items.
To address point (1) the amount of time some food items had spent in the kitchen, I feel that I am not entirely at fault. My darling husband occasionally shops and has a tendency to stock up on food items that we never eat. Often times, he finds the thought of banana pudding delightful. I, on the other time, have never wanted to stick a spoonful of banana pudding anywhere near my lips. My husband shops, purchases banana pudding, doesn’t ever make the pudding and there it sits. He also has a tendency to purchase Kool-Aid. It’s cheap, it gives some water variety, and he feels like he has made some shopping decisions. I almost never make Kool-Aid. And, when I do, honestly I make a terrible batch of Kool-Aid. I feel guilty about all the sugar and artificial chemicals in the product and end up making a diluted, undersweetened version that no one wants to consume.
That leads us to point (2) the duplicate food items. The best of shoppers have duplicate food items in their pantry. For one, many items are much cheaper at Costco and that requires the purchase of multiple jars. In addition, good shoppers purchase replacement items before the run out in the pantry. That being said, I don’t know if that explains the six jars of peanut butter in my pantry… OR, the three unopened jars ginger, a spice I personally avoid like the plague and am frankly surprised even one jar exists in the my kitchen.
The frugal shopper in me did not want to throw away any of these items. Even if I personally hate ginger and have no need for banana pudding, someone might like it. The kids! If presented in the correct way, I can get them to dispose of almost any item! I made the decision it is time to bake. A clean, stocked pantry requires the presence of baked goods as an after dinner treat or lunch box surprise. The question, where to start, where to start… Six jars of peanut butter, an abundance of ginger, oats that have been in the pantry awhile, several jars of jam (at least four), and wide variety of pudding… Overwhelmed with all the choices, I end up making Kool-Aid. Seriously, I kid you not, wanting to free up space in the kitchen, I open up the smallest little packet of Kool-Aid and dump it into a pitcher of water. And the real kicker, it is overly diluted and under sweetened (as usual) and no one really wants to drink the stuff. July 12 A bad start...I started off my day by walking into a spider's web. Direct hit, in the face, spider's web. It was terrible. As I was madly wiping off spider web from my face, I saw the spider drop off my face onto the ground. Oh, oh, oh. How horrible! I continued to frantically wipe the spider web from my face. All of a sudden, I felt something squish between my fingers. I looked down and saw the remainder of some winged insect. GROSS! It was a bad, tragic start to my day. The only plus side, I at least saw the spider fall to the ground instead of having to wonder if it was in my hair or down my clothes. *shutter* That would have been awful. Knowing that she would enjoy hearing my story, I called The Moo Girl. As I retold the story, I got several giggles. When I was completed, do you have any idea what she said?! "I knew about that spider web," she begins, "But, I didn't want to tell you about it because I was hoping that you would walk into it." That the little thing... When I finished speaking with The Moo Girl, I asked her to pass the phone to my mom. Looking for a little motherly sympathy (after hearing The Moo Girl laugh at my misfortune), I again retold my morning's experiences. My mother's response? "Oh, that poor spider," she sighs, "Not only he lose his house, but also his breakfast." *hmpf* May 13 Grocery StoreYesterday... T. Dum was busy chopping wood yesterday. Chopping wood... Fire... CAMPING! "Michele, Michele, Michele!" T. Dum exclaims, "I think that we need to have our first annual pre-Mother's Day camping in the yard tonight!" "Do I get to sleep in my bed?" I inquire. "Oh, yeah. I figured you would," her responds. And so began, the first annual pre-Mother's Day camping adventure began. With the assistance of The Moo Girl, T. Dum began working away in the yard. T. Dum decided to invite a few friends over to join in the camping fun. By the end of the evening, we had four tents up in the yard! The Moo Girl was so excited. The only job for me, go to the grocery store for camping supplies. As we decided to cook dinner over the fire, hot dogs seemed like a logical choice of food. And, who can camp without making s'mores? I left for the store with the plan to buy the following items: hot dogs I came home from the store with the following items: hot dogs (with cheese inside! I haven't had those since I was a kid!) *groan* How tragic! I could not remember to buy the three items on my list. THREE! Sure, I came home with three items... just the wrong three. I am not smarter yet! December 11 CornI need to go to the grocery store. The grocery store is not always my favorite and occasionally I can procrastinate on said activity. The problems is that when I procrastinate on going to the grocery store, it can be a bit of a challenge trying to cook dinner. It takes creativity when ingredients are limited! The other night I was cooking dinner in the unstocked kitchen. I grabbed some stewed tomatoes and some green beans out of the pantry for my dinner-time invention. If only I had some corn dinner would be perfect! If only... And yet somehow I failed to find the corn hiding in the pantry...
December 06 Poor JellybeanPoor ol' Jellybean. She has such a dumb, tired mom. When I went to change her diaper this morning, I was so surprise! Can you tell what is wrong? If you can't tell from the first photo, let me give you a different perspective. As a hint, look at her toes. Poor ol' Jellybean. I put her pj's on backwards and she slept like that all night! In my defense, since her sister was already in bed, I got her dressed un the dark. Jellybean Update: The trauma of wearing her pj's backwards did not seen effect her day too much. In fact, she had a rather exciting baby day. After spending weeks looking at her feet and touching her toes, she finally got them in her mouth! Trying to coordinate her hands (grabbing her feet), her mouth, and her legs... Well, that is just tricky. November 27 T. Dum's BirthdayWe went out this weekend for T. Dum's birthday. Just for the occasion, I was finally able to get my wedding ring back on my finger! I was so swollen during my pregnancy, that I ended up taking off my ring somewhere around month four. The thought of having a ring on my finger that I can't take off just makes me claustrophobic. The swelling has finally gone down enough (and I have lost enough weight) that I can finally get my ring back onto my hand. It was like a little birthday present for me as well!
I got ready for the evening by taking a shower, styling my hair, putting on perfume, AND wearing makeup! Just for the record, I didn't have time to shave my legs... I can't quite do everything! It has been some time since I last wore makeup. When I came out of the bathroom, decked for an evening out, The Moo Girl gasped, "Mom, what did you do to your eyes? You look like a dead person!" Thanks... Not exactly the look I was going for...
We went out for dinner and then a trip to the Irish pub for live music. It was great fun! I have a daughter who wakes up every couple hours, I am rather sleep deprived, but I still managed to stay up until 2:00 am hanging out with my husband! I think that I should earn extra brownie points. Today, I am soooo tired. Smart me, I noticed that I put one of my socks on inside out. It is patterned and rather noticeable that it is on wrong. As I wondered how I could possible put a sock on inside out today, I discovered, Horror! My unmentionables were also on inside out! What was I thinking! Just another one to stock up to "The World's Dumbest Mom".
UPDATE: I finally got my nap in today! Lately, as I have been turning on white noise for Jellybean while she sleeps. As I bounce, bounce, bounce her to sleep, I watch TV with subtitles. I realized when I woke up from my nap that I had been dreaming in subtitles! Strange. November 13 Still DumbI am two and a half months post partum and I think that they pregnancy is starting to wear off... a bit. For example, although I do have sauerkraut in the refrigerator (an item that I had never purchased until pregnant) it is not all that I can think about. I never think, what can I have for dinner tonight that will go with sauerkraut? Heck, sometimes I even forget that it is in the fridge! The intelligence thing... well, I am not smart yet. I blame my dumb mom state now on my lack of sleep. Who knows, once Jellybean starts sleep better, I might that I am back to my old, smart self! Of course, this is all leading up to my latest dumb maneuver... I was cooking dinner the other night. In the oven, there was squash cooking on a cookie sheet. Also on the cookie sheet, I placed a glass casserole dish containing chicken. After being in the over awhile (around 15 minutes), I pulled out the chicken to check on its progress. The chicken was still looking a bit pink, so I bent over to get a closer look. As I was bending over, I grabbed the casserole dish with my hand. No hot pad, no protection, I just grabbed the glass dish with my hand. Brilliant. Luckily, the cookie sheet had prevent the casserole dish from heating up properly, so I did not get a burn. STILL, I just felt like the biggest idiot. Really, who does that??? November 12 I Need an AppointmentI was taking a shower today and realized, I don't even know when the last time was that I shaved my legs! GROSS! And, forget about showering, drying my hair, shaving, and putting on makeup all on the same. That hasn't happened in FOREVER. I can probably get some combination of two of those items done, but certainly not everything. My lucky husband! I have just been one, extra sexy woman!
 I think that I need to call my mom and make a babysitting appointment. "Mom, can you watch the girls for an hour so that I can shower and dry my hair? Maybe throw a leg shaving in there if I have time?" Isn't that sad...
Daily To Do list:
Get up
Get everyone up, dressed, feed and out the door
Walk The Moo Girl to school
Take a shower
Eat lunch
Dry my hair (OMG, is 2:00 already?! What have I even gotten done?)
Make dinner
Put away the dishes while cooking
Pick The Moo Girl up from the bus stop
Eat dinner
Go to bed
And, that is about all I can do in a day. Pathetic... When dry my hair is on the "To Do" list, it just isn't a good sign. And what is worst is when I don't actually get the list done!
And in other news... The Moo Girl lost yet another tooth this evening. Oh, she was so excited. This tooth she even pulled out on her own! She currently has two teeth missing on top and several more teeth that are loose. As long as her teeth don't come in anytime soon, she should be missing her two front teeth for Christmas! The Moo Girl is losing her teeth and before too much longer, Jellybean will be getting teeth. The Moo Girl thinks that is pretty exciting as she believes that her baby teeth might be recycled to her sister. It was something she read once in a book. Personally, I think that is a pretty disgusting idea.
October 18 The Mysterious FreckleJellybean has had a cold. Her first cold! Luckily, it has been a mild cold and the only major symptom has been a slight runny nose. Unfortunately, runny noses for babies are an extra inconvenience as they blow their nose or sniffle. This has left me frequently wiping her nose. A slight hassle.
I was at the mall the other day (in public!) with Jellybean. My cousin and her baby were with me and we made a pit stop at the bathroom for my cousin. While there, I decided to wash my hands just to be extra clean. As a side note, I am freckly. Or, you could say that I am covered in spots. I kind of like the concepts of having spots. As I was washing my hands, I realized that what I had thought was a freckle turned out to be a dried bugger. GROSS! How long had that been there? The joys of motherhood... August 05 The MailboxI would like to say that this incident occurred when I was pregnant...
A couple years ago, I was leaving in the morning with The Moo Girl. It was a cold morning and the windows in the car had frosted up. I de-iced the windows and waited for the front window to de-fog. Once the front window was clear, I proceeded up the driveway. We live on a curvy, residential two lane road (that doesn't even have a sidewalk or shoulder) with a speed limit of 25 mph. However, it is a rather busy road. The road connects up some neighborhoods and we get drivers along the road traveling at 40 mph and up. Don't even get me started on traffic along the road! It is one of my biggest annoyances. I get especially get mad when I am trying to walk along the road (half in the bushes) with my daughter to the bus stop and some kid drives by at 50.
I digress. I am at the end of our driveway getting ready to turn onto this death trap of a road. A couple yards to the left of our driveway is a curve. I pull out of the driveway turning to the right. Just as I start pulling forward a car comes around the curve. I continue to keep my head turned to the left trying to judge the speed of the car that has appeared around the corner. Are they going the speed limit so that I can safely pull out of the driveway? Are they speeding like a maniac so that I need to slam on the breaks to prevent an accident? Unfortunately, as I am watching the car, I am not watching the mailbox. And I tell you, it jumped right in my path! Pesky mailbox. To make matters worst, the mailbox is cemented into the dirt. Due to the out of control speeding around the neighborhood, it has been knocked down several times by cars that have lost control as the go around the corner. ("I am sorry I knocked over your mailbox, I was only going about 40." *Grr*) I knocked the mailboxes over, but the post remained in the ground. The remaining post dented the frame along the bottom of the car, while the mailbox itself took out the front quaterpanel of the car. Delightful.
My first impulse was, "Is there anyway that I can not tell my husband?" That would be a big NO. The mailbox was knocked over and the car dented. Put two and two together. I needed to own up to this. Darn it! I got out of the car and pulled the mailbox back from the road cursing the incident. And then, I got back into the car... Where my daughter sat... With all kinds of things to say to me... All I wanted was a bit of quite to stew. I didn't get that. The Moo Girl was probably 4'ish at the time and she had a lot to say on the situation.
"You hit the mailbox because you couldn't see," she tells me. I didn't de-ice her windows, so she cannot see out of the car. I, however, could see and couldn't blame the destruction of the car on the lack of visibility. My explanation doesn't stop her chattering. On and on and on she continued. *Groan* After I drop The Moo Girl off with her grandma, I get in the car and call my husband. He wasn't thrilled, but what do you do? No going back in time, the car was already damaged. That night, after I get home, The Moo Girl and her dad are hanging out together. The Moo Girl starts in immediately, "You need to tell daddy the truth. Mom you need to tell him." A give her a quick look and seconds later she starts again, "Okay, if you won't tell him I will! My hit the mailbox because SHE COULDN'T SEE!"
Always such a help! August 02 Blow PopsOn Sunday, while at the ocean, we have a potluck lunch with my dad's family. The Moo Girl's contribution to the lunch was Blow Pops. She got them at Costco, and there was a million of them! Although the kids loved the Blow Pops, we still had several left after the lunch. When we were getting ready to leave the ocean for the weekend, I grabbed a Blow Pop and stuck it in my pants. My plan was to give The Moo Girl a Blow Pop after we had loaded up in the truck to leave to return home. However, by the time I got her cleaned up, changed into dry clothes, myself cleaned up and the remainder of our stuff loaded into the truck, the Blow Pop was forgotten. Big surprise with my 5 sec (if not less) memory.
Yesterday, I started in on the laundry. Can you see where this is going? I did check pockets of pants before throwing them into the laundry, but (of course) I managed to miss the pants that contained the Blow Pops. Where did I find the Blow Pop? In the washing machine as I was transferring the clothes to the dryer. It was a sad, half gone, Blow Pop sitting on the bottom of the washing machine. And, once again, I was feeling like a genius!
August 01 CouchWe own a white couch. White. With one kid, two if you count my husband, three if you want to count the kid that will be here soon. With a white couch. It really doesn't make for the best combination. For several years, we have managed to keep the couch white. It is rather amazing. But, it has taken us performing emergency couch cleanings with the carpet/upholstery cleaner and the occasional use of bleach. Now, after having the couch for several years, it is just getting a bit worn out. There are some thin spots in the fabric (from all the scrubbing) and time to put the slip cover on the couch.
We purchased slip covers several years ago for our previous couches. When we replaced the couches, we kept the slip covers knowing that me want to use them in the future. I have placed the slip covers over the couches a million times, but it has been awhile. As I trying to put the slip cover over our current couch, I discovered that I was just too pregnant for such an activity. I couldn't figure out how to put the cover on the couch and was too tired to really put forth an effort. So, I gave up on the process and left the cover half one and half off the couch. And that is how the couch has looked ever since. Maybe tomorrow I will have more energy...
July 31 Leaving Work, Part 2I wrote this at the end of last week, but didn't get a chance to post until today. Weeeell, I actually forgot to post this as I was leaving on a long weekend...
Today at work, I left midday to run some company errands. I ran over to a couple different local cities (located in opposite directions from the office) to submit for permits and stopped by a clients house to take pictures of the exterior so that I could draw up some elevations. It was not a very exciting couple hours. Normally, I like running errands as I doesn't take as much brain power... and my brain power supply is running terribly low at this point. However, it is still warm'ish and I don't have air conditioning in the car. Bad combination.
After several hours of running around I returned to the office. Upon my return, I discovered that the office was locked and everyone else was gone. The company I work for is rather small, only 5 employees. Although we try to have someone there at all times during office hours, it doesn't always work out. And, today was one of those days. So, I took out my keys to open the door. I proceeded to my office where I dropped off my "gear" and then walked out of the office to use the restrooms.
After using the facilities, I returned to the office and tried to open the door. Locked! Earlier in the week I was so paranoid about locking myself out of the office I forgot to lock the doors entirely. And today, I manage to make my worst office fear realized! What luck. It had occurred to me on my way out the door that I should make sure I had remembered to unlock the door, but natured called and I was in a hurry. I mean, I am pregnant and it had been a couple hours since my last pit stop. Once again, I was feeling pretty smart...
I walked a courtesy lap around the complex to see if I could find the landlord. No luck. And, I don't even know where his office is located. So, I did what anyone else would do in situation, stood around and hoped that someone would return, preferably sooner instead of later.
As I stood around, I realized that there was a chance that no one would return! That would be tragic!!! I counted down my co-workers. One, vacation, two, arrives early and leaves early (possibly gone for the day), three, left for a huge submittal meeting and was not sure how long it would take or if he would even be able to return, four, me (stuck outside), and five. All my hopes resided on employee number five. *Sigh* I decided that as long as he returned, I would be grateful. And, as luck would have it, he did return and not too long after the "incident."
What a day... But, only a half day left before I go on leave from work!!! July 26 Leaving workThis is my last week of work before I go on leave! And it couldn't come soon enough... My feet are swollen like water balloons, my back hurts, my tummy is just huge, and I am having minor contractions several times a day. Plus, as always, I am not functioning with all cylinders firing.
Leaving work tonight I was the last one out of the office. As I was turning off the lights, I remembered a story of how someone else in the office complex got locked out and they had to call a locksmith. The landlord was still in his office, but claimed that he was not allowed to unlock doors after 5:00. It was about 5:05 when this incident allegedly occurred. I am a bit suspicious of this policy and think the landlord probably just wanted to get home. Or, maybe this was an urban legend around the complex. All the same, I didn't want to take any risks. On my way to the front door of the office, I grabbed my keys out of my purse to verify that they were really there and had not fallen out. Once I had my keys, I decided that I should swing by the bathroom just in case there was a lot of traffic on the way home.
It has been hot here. Really hot. Record breaking heat! Although I normally enjoy the warm weather, it has just been too hot for being due in 3 1/2 weeks. I have forbidden everyone in my family from standing too near to me, much less touch me. It is too hot to be touched or even looked at the wrong way. Plus, the drive home from work has simply been murder. Although my car is only 3 years old, the air conditioning is not working. I am hoping that the air conditioning just needs a charge, but I have not had the time to fix the problem. So, I get to sit in traffic traveling upwards of 5 mph without any cool air. And, tonight the commute was extra slow. But still just as hot.
As I was sitting in the traffic, I was overcome with horror. Being so preoccupied with making sure that I had my keys, I forgot to lock the door to the office! It was less than five steps from where I took my keys out of purse to the office door and still I could not maintain my train of thought that long! Quickly, I tried to come up with a solution that did not involve me turning the car around and driving back, but no ideas came my way. There was no one else to do this job, so I had to turn around and drove back to work.
I did not come home in the best of moods. But, knowing that I had only a couple more days on the job did help. July 19 EggsI was so tired that I had to go to bed early last night... Only to awake at 1:30 am... So, I am hoping that after a bit of time on my computer, I can go back to sleep. The only real problem I have with the weird sleep hours is trying to function the next day without a nap mid-day. It does create some slight problems.
World's Dumbest Mom Moments updated!!!
I was actually starting to feel a tad smarter. My body is adjusting to all the extra hormones, etc and I am getting used to pregnancy, I thought! It had been awhile since I had turned off the car instead of the radio or dropped my cell phone into the toilet. A smarter girl I was becoming! Sure, I am walking around in a slight fog. Yes, I am tired and don't always know what I am doing, but I seemed to be managing so much better. That is, until yesterday...
My aunt was in town and making eggs for breakfast. "Do you need some salt for your eggs?" she innocently asked.
"No," I replied, "I just put salt on my eggs with this..." and I look down to see what I am holding. It was not the salt container. It looked nothing like the salt container. Wait a minute! It was the sugar! In horror, I frantically tried to scrap off the sugar while thanking my aunt that the eggs were over-easy instead of scrambled. (It is SOOOO much easier to try and de-sugar eggs that aren't scrambled) SO, I had a delightful breakfast that contained some slightly sweeter than normal tasting eggs. I don't think that I will make a practice of adding sugar to my eggs, but I did survive the meal. And, I am sorry to say, I will probably have more dumb moments coming up in the next couple weeks. This incident just reminded me yes, I am still pregnant and a liability to everyone around me. Although, if I had sugared The Moo Girl's eggs, she probably would have been trilled! May 16 Bird PooToday, I sat in bird poo. There is nothing to put a downward spin on the day as sitting in some type of poo. Granted, bird poo isn't as bad as say, dog poo, but still not something one wants to sit in! It was nice and fresh as well, so it had a great spread factor on the bottom of my pants.
I had been riding in a convertible (top down) and went into a job site. By the time I finished at the site (less than an hour later), a bird had pooed on the car seat. Who examines the car seat for poo before sitting down? And, this was obviously not robin poo. As the car was parked across the street from the water, it was probably sea gull poo. Sea gulls are large birds and can produce a fair amount of poo. All for me to sit in! May 10 Why Doesn't the Freezer Work???During my first trimester of pregnancy, I experienced, as most women do, morning sickness. I was not as sick as some women get, but I felt queasy 90% of the time and found many foods to just be terrible! During this phase, grocery shopping was quite an experience and I am not really sure why my husband didn't take over the chore. While at the grocery store, I would simply look for foods that the thought of eating didn't make me sick. And, if a food actually sounded tasty, I would buy in bulk! Plus, if it was on sale... Forget about it!
"You didn't just put the meatloaf and gravy frozen dinner on sale, 10 for $10!" I would think while piling the cart high with frozen dinners, all the same flavor. As a side note, as a family, we rarely eat frozen dinners and we never keep them in stock.
Now, buying 10 meatloaf frozen dinners (at $1 a piece, so you know it is good) would not be so bad, except... I could never eat the same food more than once. One day, I would eat a hot dog and sauerkraut (another food I rarely eat) and think that this is the best food I have ever tasted in my entire life! The next day, I could not stomach the thought of that same sandwich. And yet, I kept purchasing in bulk. Brilliant...
Frozen treats were another item I purchased in bulk. Lime popsicles, creamsicles, otter pops, ice cream, chocolate covered ice cream bars, the list goes on. Four cartons of ice cream for $8, no way!!!
During all these ice cream purchases, I noticed that the freezer was keeping the ice cream a tad too soft. So, I adjusted the freezer a smidge. I waited a couple days and checked the freezer again. Still too warm. The cycled continues, I would check the temperature and find the freezer too warm. One day, I threw some otter pops in the freezer and the next day they were still not frozen! I knew I had a freezer problem.
I was complaining about my freezer to my parents one day and my dad said that he would take a look at it for me. We live close by, so he walked over to my house and looked in the freezer. Yup, the freezer was kind of warm. He looked in my refrigerator at the freezer controls... that were turned all the way to the warm side. Instead of turning the knob to the colder side, I had been continually turning it in the wrong direction. Once again, BRILLANT! So, he "fixed" my freezer problem and turned the knob the other direction. Didn't I feel smart...
I was reminded of this story over the weekend. I had a friend over and she grabbed one of the MANY remaining frozen treats in my freezer (months later, I still have a Costco sized box overflowing with these treats). "Be careful when you open that popsicle. It will be pretty misshapen," I warn. She carefully opens the package to find a popsicle that has completely encased the popsicle stick. She gives me one of those "looks" and I start to laugh remembering the freezer incident. April 27 Morning DriveI was driving to work this morning...
...and listening to the Satellite radio. When I was about half way to work, I realized that I was listening to the kid's station... No kid in the car... Just listening to the kid's music that includes those favorites you may remember such as, "I Love You, You Love Me," as sung by Barney. That is time in my life that I will never get back and always regret... April 16 WatchAs I sit here working on my computer, I noticed that I was sitting on something uncomfortable. I grab the item out from under my leg and discover my watch... I don't even remember taking it off... April 15 CoffeeAbout a month ago, my T. Dum stopped by my office to bring me a 20 oz. Decaf Latte. I took a sip of my coffee. Wonderful! I love a good cup of coffee, and this was a good cup of coffee! I went to grab something on my desk and over went the coffee. I had taken only one sip of that coffee and it went everywhere. All over my desk, computer, key board, everywhere. It was tragic. I just wanted to cry! Well, maybe not cry, but certainly morn the loss of my coffee. Forget the computer! I no longer had any coffee! And, being pregnant and limiting my caffeine intake, I could not even guilt my T. Dum into giving me his coffee.
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