Happy New Year!

Christmas was wonderful.  Unfortunately, Christmas night, Mark caught the virus from H*** and now Mark and I are both sick.  I'm praying like crazy that this horrible virus stops with us and that Rebekah, Jacob and Julianna do not get it.  (Unfortunately Matt & Jason both caught it, but they're thankfully doing better now.)  I have rarely in my life been this sick with this awful of a virus.  For that, I will be thankful.

Rebekah leaves tomorrow.  I'll leave it there as I am over-emotional anyway from a lack of sleep and being sick forever, not to mention losing a week of vacation to feeling like I would have to die to feel better.  I'm really, really going to miss her though.  Really.

Tomorrow's Mark's and my Anniversary.  Twenty seven years.  Some years fly by, some you earn your stripes, I don't mean that in a bad way, it's just true.  Whichever they are, I'm truly thankful for every one we've shared together and looking forward to the year to come.

Two days of vacation left.  Here's hoping we miraculously wake up healthy. 

Hope you have a great New Year's and that 2011 is full of wonderful things--for all of us.

xoxo
Stacey

Oh! That's What the Problem Is...

So this week has taught me a couple of things.  You see, the laundry's done, meals are happening, the house is even semi-straightened.  My children are happy.  Things are on an even keel.  Embarrassingly, all those things are different this week than how they've been lately.  What's different?

I'm not working.

There's time.  Everything's working better.  I still haven't wrapped a present, we're not exactly at the stage of Christmas miracles here, but it's much, much smoother.  I've even had my sewing machine out.

Short of a winning lottery ticket, highly unlikely as we don't play, quitting work is not in my foreseeable future.  Somehow, I need to learn to make things run more smoothly even though I work 50 hours a week.  It's been affirming to me to see that the problem isn't essentially me, this week things have gone beautifully, my problem is time, maybe organization, and hopefully, there's a system out there that I can learn.

So...how do you do it?  If you work full-time, how do you juggle everything and keep things running smoothly?  I'd really appreciate any tips and tricks you can share.

December 20 MPM

Organizing Junkie

I'll admit to feeling a bit of a fraud about even posting a meal plan for this week.  I am done working until January 3, and that means things are going to be very relaxed around here.  DO YOU HEAR ME?  RELAXED!  Yup, I'm going to relax even if I have to force it.  :)

Rebekah's only home for 2 more weeks, a fact that excites her, she's eager to get back (exactly how it should be and what I want for her), and saddens me (I know how very much I'll miss her, but I wouldn't change that either.)

Mark has a few more days to work and then he's on vacation until January 3, and I am very excited as the possibilities stretch out before us.  Most of all, I'm looking forward to just spending time together.

Still, as always, a meal plan keeps me at least a bit more on track, definitely saves us money, so here's the plan for this week:

Monday:  Waffles & Ham steaks
Tuesday:  Crockpot shredded beef sandwiches, potato skins
Wednesday:  Spaghetti & Meatballs  (yay for yummy food in the freezer!)
Thursday (Mark & I out for a date):  Potluck for the kids
Friday  (Mark's birthday):  Stuffed cabbage  he's still deciding on dessert, caramel brownies, coconut cake, apple dumplings or mint-chocolate chip ice cream pie.  Yummy choices, to be sure, but so much work!  I'll be happy to make him whatever he chooses.

I'm a bit stumped on our Christmas morning plans.  I'd love to make eat some yummy, substantial food, since we'll be not eating again until later in the day, but I'm not sure I'm really in the mood to make the food I want.  :)  Bite sized quiches keep calling my name.  These? maybe, or these?  We'll see if I decide to go for it, or revert to Pop Tarts or Cinnamon rolls.  Either way, I know it will be just fine.

Winter Break!

Now, it will finally start to feel like Christmas.

I'm done working for the year.  Yay!

Nutcracker rehearsals, performances,

babysitting Matt & Lily,

date with hubby,

sugar cookies, gingerbread too.

Mark's birthday

Gingerbread house

visiting family

being together

our Anniversary

taking Rebekah back to OU

I know time's going to fly.

I know I have yet to wrap a single present.

There's much to do, not a lot of time to do it.

Moments I want to savor that I know will fly by all too quickly,

surprisingly, to me, I'm okay with all of it.
(well, to be honest, it's starting to freak me out a bit that I haven't wrapped.  When am I going to find the time???)

I am so happy, excited, peaceful, eager, anticipating, joyful...

I'm going to enjoy every minute.

(Well, not so much the taking Rebekah back, but everything else.)

Hope your holidays are filled to the brim too.

**Thinking and praying for so many of my friends who are in pain and experiencing really difficult times, I know the holidays make things feel especially acute, lonely, painful.  I'm wishing you peace and comfort.

A Friendly Warning

We were checking out our local asian market recently and Jacob found a dragon fruit.

Dragon Fruit!  I've always wanted to try that,

Can we buy it???

$6.00!!!

Still, I like to encourage the kids to try new things, especially healthy new things,

so I sucked it up and we bought it.

(Please ignore Jacob's hair in all pictures...no idea what was going on there.)

We took it home, cut it in half...

Mark definitely did not like it.

"I need something to wash that taste away!"

Needless to say, Jacob was disappointed too...

Yup, definitely a thumbs down. 

There's a chance that we did it wrong, maybe the one we picked out wasn't ripe, maybe there was some other problem with it, but at those prices and at that first taste, it's an experience we won't be repeating.  :)

You win some you lose some, at least I got points for trying.

Hosted by Cecily and Lolli

A Slow Burn

Don't forget to enter my giveaway.  $10.00 free! plus Old El Paso treats.

I have 3 full-time families that I work for.  Things are going great.  No problems there.  I have 3 children I watch part-time.  Things are going great in 2/3 of them.  I'm thankful for that as well.  However, that one little situation...it's really starting to irritate me.  No one of us like to feel taken advantage of.  That's a given.  I'm definitely feeling (being?) taken advantage of and I don't like it.  One little bit.  Word of advice people, treat your childcare provider well.  It's worth it.

I watch this little guy, (as is almost always the case, my problem is not with the child, it's the parent), anyway, I watch this little guy two days a week for 4 hours a day.  He's supposed to be here 10-2.  His dad is most often responsible for dropping him off.  He tends to drop him off whenever.  I've made my peace with that.  With as many kids as I watch and the variable schedules that I juggle, I like a routine.  I want to know what's happening when.

[Sidebar:  Knock-Knock.
Who's there?
Control Freak.  Now you say, "Control Freak who?"]  Thanks to Mir for my new favorite joke.

It was recently pointed out to me that I love this joke perhaps because I might be a bit of control freak myself.  Funny enough, that had truly never occurred to me, but I can definitely see the truth in that.  When it comes to my business however, and the fact that I have the huge responsibility of little people's lives and happiness while they're in my care, I'm not going to apologize for being a control freak.

So, back to my story.  This dad shows up whenever and then wants to pick up the little boy 4 hours from that.  It doesn't work for me.  That particular part of my day is crazy and I explained that to the dad.  I specifically told him I need him to pick up the little boy at 2:00, regardless of when he's dropped off.  Well, joke's on me.  It turns out it doesn't really matter what I say, the dad three times now has just shown up whenever he wants, after calling and saying he's sorry, running late, etc., and he'll "be right there".

It's not working for me.

I'd rather not quit over it, the little boy is nice and he plays nicely with another little one I watch, plus the money obviously is nice, but I also don't like the "what are you going to do about it" feel to it.

Lessons

I learned so much today, important things, things I wanted to share.  I'm very grateful that in our own personal lives, things are fine.  Still, I feel as though I've received a bit of a wake up call and I will be doing my best to make more informed, careful choices for my family.

• BPA and plastics in general are not a choice I should be making for my family.  There appears to be a strong link between plastics, possibly BPA, and estrogen exposure.  Too much exposure to estrogen is not good for us.  It's not just people that are getting bigger.  Rats, mice, raccoons and other animals have grown significantly bigger in the last 30 years.  That's not attributable to over-eating as it tends to be assumed is the cause in people, Dr. Dyer, a renowned endocrinologist at Nationwide Children's Hospital, theorizes that it has something to do with estrogen exposure in the american environment.
• Contrary to media belief, the age of a girl's first period has not significantly changed.  The biggest predictor of when a girl will start menstruating is the age that her mother started.  She will almost always start within a year of her mother.  What has significantly changed is the age breast development begins.  It used to be girls started developing breasts within 1 to 2 years of their first period.  That is no longer the case.  Now, breast development can start as early as 3 years prior to the first period.  Breast tissue development is directly linked to exposure to estrogen.
• Stay away from growth hormones in milk.  (It's illegal to sell milk in Ohio with growth hormones.  I don't know what laws are in other states.)
• Processed foods are also thought to be a big reason why we, and animals, are getting bigger.  Dr. Dyer believes there is something in processed foods, be it corn syrup, preservatives, whatever, that is ultimately not good for us.
• Pubic hair growth has nothing to do with puberty. 

For me, for our family, I will continue to buy the expensive milk I buy, that I trust.  I will be reducing our use of plastics.  I will be trying to buy more organic/grass fed beef and will definitely be buying more from the perimeter of the grocery store--the easiest way to avoid processed foods.  Thankfully, I do not depend on processed foods much, but it will still be an adjustment to make these changes.  My family's worth it however.

Good luck to all of us as we navigate this tricky world we're living in.  I love our advancements, I love the products available, but sometimes I wonder at the damage we're doing to ourselves that we don't even know.  I've suffered a lot of mommy-guilt, fortunately seemingly needlessly at this point, the last few weeks, but it's definitely been a wake-up call.  I think unfortunately there's a lot out there in our environment that is harming us, harming our children and we need to do our best to be educated and make good choices.  Unfortunately, I worry most for all the things we don't even know enough to be worried about.

Ole`

Time's Up!  Congrats, mami2jcn.  I hope you enjoy your prize pack.

I'll keep this short and sweet.  I'm cranky.  My daughter's teacher just assigned 2 hours of homework over winter break.  My 2ND GRADE DAUGHTER.  The one who has a lot going on and could really, really use a break.  Meanwhile my 4th grader has no homework.  Don't get me wrong, I'm happy about that, but it's going to make it that much harder to force Julianna to settle down and work when no one else has to.  *sigh*  

Where was I?

Oh yes, short and sweet.  I have an awesome giveaway.  Well, very cool anyway.  And, it involves cash (and bad grammar, evidently.)

We love mexican food.  Love it!  You knew that from my meal plans though.  My Blog Spark and Old El Paso are teaming up to encourage all of us to plan a Family Taco Night once a month, at our house it could easily be once a week.  Visit Old El Paso for great tips, recipes, all kinds of great ideas.  Also, you can visit http://www.myblogspark.com/uc/main/b069/ to download a printable coupon for $0.60 off any two Old El Paso products.  But wait!  There's more!

Right now, you can win, courtesy of Old El Paso through My Blog Spark, an Old El Paso “Family Taco Night” prize pack which includes a packet of original Old El Paso Taco Seasoning, a Cactus Chip & Dip Serving dish, a set of 3 Fiesta Chili Pepper serving dishes and a $10 gift card to purchase your taco fixings. 

As I said, we love Mexican food and Old El Paso is my favorite brand of taco seasonings and other fixings.

To enter this giveaway, leave a comment telling me your favorite Mexican dish to fix.  If you don't make any, tell me your favorite to eat.  

That's it.  Easy-peasy, short and sweet.  

Winner will be picked by random.org and announced December 20, 2010

Wow! Christmas for Grown Ups

Mark was headed out to work this morning, at the bright dark early hour of 6:00 AM, when he tripped over a package on our doorstep--hot, fresh bagels delivered to our doorstep, for free!

This weekend we were thinking of going out for dinner Saturday night.  I remembered seeing a story in our local newspaper about a new New York-style deli opening in our area, and I started Googling like crazy to try and find the name of it.  (I never did, if you're local and you know, please share!)  I remembered the deli was going to serve bagels, so I tried googling "bagels" and came up with the most awesome bagel maker in Central Ohio, Sammy's bagels, with a tag that said free home delivery!  What???  Really???  I immediately forgot about the deli, lol.  These are absolutely our favorite bagels, but they're not widely available, and it's definitely a rare treat for us.

We messed about a bit, fantasizing about what we would order, filled out an order sheet, more just to see what the "catch" was, and clicked send.  That was it.  No email response, which didn't surprise me, the website clearly says weekend orders have to be in by Friday, perfectly fair, and there was no way to pay online, so I didn't think a whole lot more about it except to get wildly excited when we thought about the future possibilities.  Wildly excited!  Bagels in Central Ohio tend to be okay at best, the opportunity to get these, for free delivery to boot, at wholesale prices really did seem too good to be true and I honestly did not expect it to work out--I figured we were out of their delivery area, at the very least.

Well, flash forward to this morning and Mark tripping over bagels!  Yup, they delivered our order, even though we hadn't even paid for it yet, and boy were they good.  What a wonderful surprise.  We'll definitely be ordering these again...and again...   $9.99 for a dozen bagels delivered fresh to my door?  Yes, please!

December 12 Meal Plan

I didn't really do a meal plan last week, and boy did I feel it.  Why do I have to learn the lesson over and over again that I need a plan, around here things don't really happen without a plan.  For me, the adage, "if you fail to plan you plan to fail" is unfortunately all too true.  So, to keep this week on a better keel, here's our meal plan:

Sunday lunch:  Fig Glazed Cheeseburgers w/red onion jam; potato planks
Sunday dinner:  Potluck
Monday:  waffles, ham steaks
Tuesday (piano, dance): Tuna Noodle Casserole (chicken for piano), salad, dessert, bread
Wednesday (scouts, haircut) :  Turkey Soup, rolls
Thursday (dance):  Beef Stew, biscuits
Friday:  Spaghetti w/ meatballs

**Oh my goodness!  The fig-glazed cheeseburgers and red onion jam were incredible!!!  I was seriously surprised at how good they were.  I bookmarked that recipe a long, long time ago, and I'm so glad I finally got (brave enough) to try them.  Fig jam used to really scare me, but I am discovering I absolutely love it.  Give it a try.

Hi

Hi, my name is Stacey and this is my blog.  In case you've forgotten.  Which might be likely and I certainly wouldn't blame you.

It's been forever since I updated.  Not for a lack of happenings, just a freeze of words.  I have 4 posts sitting in my save file that I'm not publishing for one reason or another.

I'm only updating now because I am so tired of seeing my last post show up. 

I'm sorry I haven't been around.

Things are good.  Rebekah has a job for winter break.  That's good...and bad.  Such is life.  Good because she needs $$.  Bad for two reasons, one, she's not around much and I really, really, really, really, really miss her; and two, because of the managers where she works is a bit of a bully and enjoys belittling people and has no compunction about making people cry.  She may not be working there long.  Life's too short to have to put up with that when you're 18.  When you're 45 and you have a mortgage and kids, there are lousy situations sometimes you just have to suck it up and deal, but not necessarily when you're 18.  We'll see how it goes.

Jason has some job prospects.  I'm praying things work out for the best.  I know he desperately wants a permanent situation.  Hopefully he'll get some good news this week.

Julianna's performing in the Nutcracker today at 2 schools and Monday at 2 schools.  I'm feeling a bit like a lousy mommy because I'm not with her, but I can not afford to take two days off work, especially right before Christmas.  Rebekah, awesome daughter/sister that she is, is being terrific and spending those two days with her.  I'm truly blessed.  I try to alleviate the mommy guilt by reminding myself that if I were not working not only would Julianna not be dancing, that would be the least of my worries.  Why do we pile so much gilt on ourselves?

Jacob's doing great.  He's just...Jacob.  School's going well.  He's almost done reading the Harry Potter series and Chronicles of Narnia is next on his horizon.  He's happy and life is good.

Me?  I'm hanging in there.  Our tree's not up, but hopefully that will happen this weekend.  I can't believe I only have one more week until the kid's are off for winter break.  I'm very much looking forward to that. 

I'm fighting the endless battle of trying to figure out how to work full-time and keep my life turning.  Right now, laundry is seriously suffering.  My house needs cleaned.  I need to meal plan and get to the grocery store.  Forget balance, I'm just trying to figure out how to get it done.  :)

I'll leave you with a quote I'm trying to incorporate into our lives...this holiday season, fit your schedule to your family, don't try to fit your family to your schedule.  I think there's a lot of wisdom there.

Take care.  I hope you're able to slow down, do the things you want to do, not be overwhelmed by the "to-do's" of the season and just step back and enjoy.  It's my goal too.

Ideas Please WWYD

So, crazy weekend ahead.  Rebekah has a friend from OU coming Friday afternoon for the weekend.  J&J are playing in a piano recital Friday night  (Tacos for dinner).  Saturday morning is Sunday School program rehearsal (sandwiches for lunch).  Saturday afternoon more friends from OU are coming.  Saturday night 16 people here for Hanukkah dinner, and they're staying the night.  Sunday morning church & Sunday school and the friends leave for home.  Sunday afternoon big dinner, served early, around 12:30 (Lasagna, salad, bread) before Sunday school program.  Sunday late afternoon Sunday school program followed by cookies, over around 5:30?  Sunday dinner, not a clue.  Needs to be quick and easy to make, or make ahead, not too filling.  One of Rebekah's friends will still be here, so that leaves out the cereal/potluck I would normally rely on in a situation like this.  I am fresh out of inspiration.

What would you serve?

Tuesday to do...

Oh wait!  It's Wednesday?  Crud!

Yup, that's kind of the way things are going around here.

Here's my to do list for today.  Writing it out and posting it here serves two purposes.  One, it allows to delay actually doing any of the stuff I need to do but don't, in any way, want to do; and two, it lets me organize my thoughts and perhaps holds me accountable.  There's a third purpose as well, what do you know, distract, distract, distract.  :)  Pretty, shiny, distracting things are very important right now.

What's on your list this week?

1. make grocery list for Thursday's trip to the grocery store two grocery stores, because I am an idiot, I am cheap where I can be, necessitating a trip to Whole Paycheck for the milk we drink and eggs that don't make me twitchy to buy (I really like to buy free range, no cage, humanely raised eggs, yes, I realize I'm probably being ripped off, but it's a compulsion), plus a trip to Walmart for everything else, which means...
2. finish meal plan for this weekend and beyond
3. buy an Elf on the Shelf, because Julianna loves this idea.  I actually had one last year and took it back thinking my kids were really beyond it, but you know what?   Julianna likes it, it holds onto childhood a bit? This year that's trumping everything and we'll get one.
4. Make challah?  Buy challah?  Whatever, just do it!
5. Clean my house.  A few weeks ago there was a Living Social deal to have your house cleaned for $55.  Being extremely selfish, lazy, altruistic, I bought the deal to help my friend Heather try to get her's free me get the house ready before Rebekah's Hanukkah party this weekend, (you try running a home daycare and keeping your house clean, I dare you).  Unfortunately, I'm embarrassed to tell you  it will honestly take me hours and hours to get my house in shape for someone to be able to clean it.  (Amazon boxes are everywhere!  Do they really have to pack every.single.item in a separate box??)  
6. Wake Rebekah and make her help me straighten, declutter, gut the house.  Whose party is this anyway?
7. Make a pseudo-Hanukkah dinner.  Pseudo for two reasons:  one, the ignorant den leader scheduled a Webelos meeting on the first night of Hanukkah.  (Who is the den leader again?  Oh yeah, Mark.  hmph!)  two, I'm making a humongous Hanukkah dinner Saturday night for 16 or more people.  That's enough Hanukkah dinner in my opinion, though definitely not in my family's opinion, but guess who's cooking so therefore gets to decide?  Yup.  Me.  :)
8. Take care of lots of adorable little people all day long.
9. Freak out about everything I need to do, thus enabling me to delay, delay, delay actually getting anything done.  It's a specialty of mine.  Yes, I know you're jealous.
10. Hoover on the internet and endlessly order things we one, don't need, and two, can't really afford, because look!  they're bright! and shiny! and distracting!  Win! Win! Win!

Off to work!  (yeah right)