What's for Dinner?

 

            Last week my husband was working late so the boys and I ran some errands and went out to dinner after day camp. I tried to talk them into going to an actual restaurant with menus and waitresses, but they had their hearts set on fast food. We picked Wendy’s since I’m trying to shed a few pounds and they have some decent options for the health conscious.

            The boys have outgrown fast food kids meals. They realize now that the toys are disappointing. I’m pretty ecstatic about that myself. No more little plastic toys to clutter up my car and no tears to soothe when the toys get “lost”* or broken. The main reason though? The typical fast food kid’s meal isn’t filling enough to sustain them. There are enough calories, to be sure. But they’re still hungry after they’ve eaten. So we’re on to regular menu items these days.

We ate our dinner and headed off to Trader Joe’s. I adore Trader Joe’s, but the closest one is about 40 minutes away. So I shop there the way most people shop at Costco or BJ’s. The cashiers always comment on the amount of peanut butter I buy. I have three insulated bags for the frozen stuff I bring home and those are usually jammed full. I pretty much stop shopping when my cart is about to tip over.

            As I was contemplating how many bags of Mandarin Orange Chicken I should buy, James asked, “What are we having for dinner.” We had only left Wendy’s about fifteen minutes beforehand. Dinner? What was the fifteen bucks I dropped at Wendy’s for? A snack? I looked at James, a little short for his age and so skinny I can count his ribs. He had just consumed about 800 calories at Wendy’s and was ready for “dinner”. Two things popped into my head:

            1.) I’m going to have to work overtime to feed these kids and

            2.) where can I get a metabolism like that? 

* By “lost” I mean thrown away by their mother.

Theatrical Thursday

Instead of a regular blog post, I'd like to share with you the reason I have been neglecting my blog lately. The show I've been working on since February opens tomorrow night. I have been at the theatre for hours every day, living on black coffee and fast food. I have callouses on my hands from set work. My eyes are red from sleep deprivation and stage dust. And I've never felt better. I love this show. I love this cast. And I love how supportive my family has been through this adventure.

Here is my very first attempt at using a video camera and iMovie. Ladies and gentleman, I give to you the cast of Milton Players production of The Secret Garden, directed by yours truly.

It's Not that Far Away... Really!

            My son has the insidious on-again-off-again stomach virus that seems to visit this house every year. After mentioning it on Facebook, my sister remarked that I must be looking forward to spring. I hadn’t really thought about it much—but yes! Now that she mentioned it I keep fantasizing about all the joyful things warm weather can bring. I can’t wait for winter to melt into a brief New England spring and then blaze into summer. So instead of a rant about how I’m so tired of the smell of Lysol and making sure I have Saltines, Jell-o, and bananas in the house, this post is about the things I’m looking forward to when the weather warms.

            Vegetables from our garden. I never know what that patch of dirt is going to yield. Some years it’s nothing but zucchini, but last year we had pounds of cherry tomatoes and green peppers until October. Not to mention sugar snap peas that were so sweet they never made it from the yard into the kitchen before they were consumed. 

Zucchini: full of vitamins and fiber. Plus they make great weapons!

            Warm showers. Warm when you get out that is. I can’t wait until I can take a hot quick shower without trying to time it for when the radiators kick in.

Grilling. I love the winter comfort foods—chili, chicken pie, lasagna, beef barley soup with crusty bread. But I can’t wait until dinner is just a matter of grilling some marinated chicken and tossing a salad. With crusty bread of course—that's perfect in any season.

            Bare feet, sandals, no wool socks. The number one thing on my Christmas wish list this year was wool socks. Really. That’s how glamorous I am. I hate it when my feet are cold. Right now I’m wearing wool socks AND fleece slippers. A few months from now I’ll be barefoot in the house and wearing Tevas or flip-flops outside.

            Walking. I used to sneer at people who drove their kids a block or two to the bus stop. Encouraging childhood obesity and bad for the environment—what kind of parents do that? Parents like me. I don’t mind walking to and from the bus stop. It’s the standing around waiting in 10º degree temperatures that I mind. Not to mention the fact that the sun setting at four o’clock really brings me down. I can’t wait to take my afternoon stroll to meet my little guys and hear about their day while we look at the ducks and turtles at the pond on our way home.

            Wearing fewer clothes. Get your mind out of the gutter. I just mean fewer layers. Trading in my long johns, jeans, turtle necks, sweaters, jackets, boots, hats, gloves, and scarves (did I mention wool socks?) for  a pair of shorts, a tee shirt and my sandals. The only other layer I’ll need is sunscreen.

            Open windows. My house doesn’t smell like sickness exactly. But it does smell like Lysol and Resolve carpet cleaner plus a layer of Yankee Candles “Fresh Linen”. It doesn’t smell bad. It just smells like I’m trying to hide something. I can’t wait for a nice warm day to just air this place out!

Is it summer yet???

              

            The beach. Now we’re talking about the good stuff. Load up the minivan with towels, snacks, sunscreen, buckets and shovels. Swing by Dunkin’ Donuts for an Iced Coffee and meet the cousins at the beach. Explore tidal marshes and catch minnows and crabs. Build sandcastles and knock them down. Watch the kids chase each other around with seaweed. And the bonus prize? Children who are exhausted and ready for sleep.

            What are you looking forward to when the “livin’ is easy”?

Getting My Act Together...

...or why I don't watch daytime television

             I had Monday off from my job in the wonderful world of retail. With Christmas only a few days away I had planned to use the time to “get my act together”. I made a discovery. It’s important when putting your “to do” list together on Christmas week that you be a lot more specific than “get your act together”. I got a few things accomplished, but I sure don’t feel together!

            One of the things I managed to get done was the wrapping. I gathered all the gifts, paper, tape, labels, etc. and plopped down in the living room in front of the Today show. I rarely have the TV on during the day. I might have it on when I’m ironing—but how often does that happen??? So the Today show had loads of ideas about Christmas—gifts to give, food to cook and ways to decorate.

            The first segment I saw featured two families who were each given $150 to pull together a festive dinner for eight people. It seemed like both families spent the majority of their budget on décor and the food was almost an afterthought. Clearly, these people are no relation to my family! One family only spent $75 on their decorations and dinner. Each person was given a cookie with his or her name on it—festive right? That served as napkin holder, place card, and dessert. They only spent half their budget and dessert was a cookie… ONE cookie. You call that a Christmas dessert? They had $75 bucks left over—hit the packie* and the bakery with the left over cash! Geesh!

            The next segment I watched was one in which someone gushed on and on about gifts you can buy your pet for Christmas. For real?  I love my cats but it seems to me that being a cat in a good home is already one of the best lives a creature can have. All your meals are taken care of, you don’t work (except for the occasional mousing but they really seem to enjoy that), and you spent half your time sleeping in sunny spots and getting petted. They need a stocking too? Bah! Humbug!

            Finally, someone whose title was “Lifestyle Editor” came along and talked about unique ways to wrap oddly shaped presents. That really caught my interest, because every once in while tips like that can be really helpful. Her first idea was a large barrel-shaped container in which you can “wrap” a kid’s bicycle. A bicycle? Wrap a bicycle? Whose lifestyle was she editing anyway? I clearly remember the first bicycle I got as a Christmas present—it was a royal blue Schwinn. I was probably in second or third grade and I was thrilled. Unwrapping it wouldn’t have made it any more special. Not to mention the fact that the container she was wrapping it in costs forty dollars. In my lifestyle, forty bucks is the cost of an entire gift. Here are some other uses for forty dollars: two hard cover books, several bottles of wine, classroom supplies for your kids teachers, Godiva chocolates for the bus driver, a chili dinner for twenty of your closest friends, two nice Lego sets (or one awesome one), a nice bottle of whiskey, two $20 gift cards to Dunkin’ Donuts for the mail man, or a half-hour massage for someone who has been wrapping gifts all day.

            I turned the TV off after that. I’ve come to the realization that the last thing I need a couple of weeks before Christmas is more ideas. I’ve already come up with enough things I’d like to do but won’t have time. I hate to sound like a Scrooge, but Christmas is wonderful enough without making yourself nuts. Christmas is a time to see people you don’t get to see all the time and indulge in a few once-a-year treats. It isn’t a time to make yourself crazy trying to please everyone. By the way, I got a bike for Christmas this year myself. My company gave every single one of its thousands of workers a mountain bike. It didn’t come wrapped and it needs to be assembled and it was an awesome gift.

*Translation from New Englandish: Liquor Store

Semper Paratus!

 

That’s “always prepared” in Latin. It’s my motto. When you’re anal retentive OCD particular like I am it’s in everyone’s best interest to always be prepared. I’m thinking about this today because I woke up this morning utterly unprepared for the day. Normally, before I go to bed at night everyone’s lunches for the next day are made, dishes are washed, my uniform is ironed, and dinner for the next night is planned. This is not because I am some psychotic Martha Stewart wannabe. It simply limits the amount of chaos we have—chaos ensues anyway. But it’s chaos of the controlled variety.

This morning I was making lunches for the boys while trying to keep them on track to get ready for school, while getting myself ready for work. As a result I forgot to eat breakfast (and things get ugly when my blood sugar gets low) or pack my own lunch. So it meant going through the BK drive thru after the bus stop and eating lunch from the staff café at work. One of these days I’ll write a post about the staff café. Today’s special—steak and cheese subs with onion rings and bacon on the side (there is bacon on the side every day no matter what the meal). You also get a choice of two soups—both cream soups. For dessert? Angioplasti! 

            It is particularly important for me to be prepared for Wednesdays. Wednesdays my husband has rehearsal and the boys and I have Cub Scouts. I need to be prepared to keep 8 or 10 second graders engaged in the early evening at a time I would much prefer to be settling down to a cup of tea or a glass of wine. Fortunately things have eased up a bit now that soccer season is over. This is what the typical Wednesday looked like for me in September and October:

            2:30 Punch out of work and head for home.

            3:00 Arrive home, change clothes, check e-mail, and organize my stuff for Scouts

            3:35 Pick up boys at the bus stop, go to Little Caesar’s, and buy cheap pizza.

            4:00 Arrive home, scarf down cheap pizza, and make boys scarf down pizza, while doing homework.

            4:20 Supervise an eight-year-old getting into Cub Scout uniform and a six-year-old into cleats and shin guards.

            4:28 Pick up Aunt from chemotherapy appointment and drop off across town.

            4:50 Drive from Aunt’s house to soccer practice (if there is time, grab coffee—please Lord let there be time to get coffee!).

            5:00 James’ soccer practice begins and Owen finishes homework at soccer field while I make final preparation for Cub Scout meeting (this invariably involves cutting out little bits of paper on a windy day). 

            6:00 I’m staring at the clock on my phone wondering why practice isn’t over.

            6:05 The coach asks if anyone knows what time it is.

            6:07 The boys load into the van. James strips off sweaty cleats and shin guards while we drive across town.

            6:28 We pull into the church parking lot where the Scouts meet. James finishes changing into his uniform—I swear scouts wear more accessories than RuPaul!

            6:30 Scouts. I can’t remember exactly what happens there—I’m usually too dazed by then.

            7:30 The meeting is over. I usually have stuff I need to talk about with the Cub Master and Assistant Cub Master while the boys reenact The Lord of the Flies.

            7:45 We head for home. They are ordered into the house to brush their teeth, wash up and get ready for bed while I get remove all stray sporting equipment and other detritus from the minivan.

            8:00 The boys are in bed. I read a story and issue dire warnings about getting out of bed for any reason other than using the bathroom.

            8:10 I make the next days lunches and throw away pizza boxes and otherwise prepare for the next day.

            8:30 Relax with a shot of Jim Beam Black and watch old episodes of Glee cup of Tension Tamer Tea and catch up on my reading.

            Fortunately soccer and my aunt’s chemo are no longer a part of my Wednesday routine. So things have eased up significantly. But I still need to have all my ducks in a row when I wake up in the mornings. Otherwise I’ll have to make PB&Js while I ought to be writing in my journal and sowing the seeds that grow into blog posts.

            But this isn’t supposed to be a post about my wacky Wednesdays. It’s a post about being prepared. I was talking to one of the moms that I run into at various activities one day and she expressed surprise at my finding this Den Mother gig challenging. I explained that it wasn’t the Scouts—they’re a good bunch of kids. I was having difficulty finding the time to prepare for meetings. She laughed and said something like, “After doing Girl Scouts for so many years I just wing it and kind of fly by the seat of my pants.” Okey dokey, whatever works for you Honey. I want a plan. And a back up plan. That’s how I roll.

            I have two handbags (that’s a lie—I have a zillion—but I have two that get regular use). One is for days when I’m not with my kids. It has my wallet, cell phone, a couple of pens and my work ID. I keep my keys (of course I have a Swiss Army knife on the key chain) in my pocket so if my purse gets snatched the keys aren’t conveniently located near my address. Then there is the bag I carry when I have the kids with me—it’s a lot bigger. In addition to the above, I also have a small first aid kit, wet wipes, fruit snacks, a couple of small notebooks or coloring books, and a water bottle or two. Yes, sometimes it bothers my shoulder. But I’ve never said, “Geez, I really wish I didn’t bring along something to bribe distract the kids with. They really seem content to wait 40 minutes in the pediatricians office with nothing to do.”

            I only have two kids, so I really could get along without a minivan. But having a minivan means I can really be prepared. In any season you’ll find a gallon of water, a snow brush, a blanket, cat litter, plastic bags, snacks, tissues, wet wipes, a road atlas (hoping to upgrade to a GPS for Christmas—you reading this Sweetie?) and jumper cables in the back of my van. It’s entirely possible that I’m a little obsessive about having everything I need. But the nice thing is, I’m always willing to share with folks that aren’t quite so obsessed prepared.