Cooking with Daddy

In an effort to reduce my stress levels, I have started delegating tasks - when appropriate.
Evidently, I misjudged the "appropriateness level" on this one.


 

A Day in the Life -- January Edition

Because it's fun.. Because I'm a team player..Because I like having a topic to blog about -- Here is a day in the life of me. (if you want to read more of these go check out the mothership in a day or so.)

I had to be to work early today (7:30am). Feel free to insert the usual comments about "OMFG it is early."

I checked on Brynn while I started to get ready.  Her sleeping habits always amaze me.  I have no idea how she can end up facing the complete opposite direction from the one she started out at...

When I heard the crib shaking at 6:40am, I knew that the Boomer was awake.  He starts the morning out with an aerobic routine followed by intensive giggling.  (Don't let the dazed look on his face fool you. He was just stunned by the flash.)

After wild man was freed, we went to check on Brynn.  After some prodding, she began her morning stretches.

(and no, I didn't realize her room was going to look like a victoria's secret box while I was painting it.)

Off to work I went. My first call was to hear about the audit results of an off-shore production center in India. What a great way to start a Wednesday at 7:30am. (yep, I paid attention on the right side, and FB'd it on the left side.)

Today I had about 10 million hours of conference calls to attend... It could have only been 2 hours, but details, SCHME-TAILS!

Here's a picture of Chantel getting ready to tell the woman from Veldhoven to shove it up her caboose. We really really can't stand the woman from Veldhoven.

At 11:04 am, Taya came over and told me a story about bed bugs. It was gross and I will remember it for always. After that, she signed the going away card for a coworker.

I spent much of my morning at work doing non-work work. I'm working on a brief for my attorney-friend.  I had to go meet with him at lunch time -- I was happy we didn't decide to eat outside.

I met with him for approximately 30 minutes before it was concluded that we should go and eat something. YIPPEE!! During our meeting, I had an Erin Brokovich-esque revelation with the file and I felt re-energized and optimistic about our client's prospect of winning!! (there was a big fat lie in the other person's application for a restraining order)

My first, and only, attempt at a self-portrait today.

For me, HEAVEN is spelled A-C-U-P-U-L-C-O. I would eat here every single day and love it every single time. 

My food arrived and my dining partner tried to stick his finger in my food....All during the meal, he was trying to get me to go put a sombrero on because "that would be a good picture for your Bog..Boog? What the hell is it?"

Ooooh I love you Acupulco!!

After lunch, I went back to "work" and worked all afternoon on my non-work work.  Good news -- I believe that the brief is done (for now anyways) and I am excited at the prospect of not having to work on it tonight. I like very much to veg out at night and lay like broccoli.

I did take a break from writing the brief to chat it up with Xtina. She didn't want me to take her picture, but I totally did anyways.Mu-ha-ha. (I totally love my work girls.)



Somebody in this picture is preggo, but I am not allowed to tell you who, yet.

The best part of my day!! I picked the kids up from daycare and we headed for home!! Well, we almost headed for home -- we had a special stop to make first...

Since our morning had to start out earlier than usual and since Jeremy took the kids to daycare (which only happens if I am out of town or on the super rare occassions that I have to go to work early) we bribed Brynn.  We agreed that if she was a good listener, had no tantrums this morning, and no crying jags for Jeremy in the car -- she could go to the donut store on the way home tonight. And praise cheezus, it worked.

Didn't know there were paparazzi in Fargo, did ya?

Yep, there are. They stake out the donut shops.

About this time, I began to hear "MOM!! What are you DOING??"


We got home and Jeremy was shoveling. As soon as he heard there were donuts, he stopped and came inside.

Here's my house. We've lived here for about 1 1/2 years.

We had donut time before supper.

Here is where my husband and I get into some friendly debates. He cannot stand that I let Brandon feed himself. I say "Eh.. he has to learn sometime."  My husband then says "I can't watch this."  Here are some pictures of the results:

After the applesauce... I did give him some spaghetti. He looked super special after that.

I was able to get a quick hug out of her...

before she ran away...

After the applesauce/spaghetti fiasco, Brandon had to go straight into the tub. I believe that it is time for the kids to each take their own bath, but it never fails -- as soon as one of them hears the water start running, there is a trail of clothes and two nekkid kids standing next to the tub.  (Brynn continues on with her interest to play with highness')

After the bath, the kids did one of their favorite activities -- Play with Other People's Shoes (and completely mess up the closet)

Brynn and I played a couple rounds of Alphabet Bingo and put together a puzzle.

And then it was bedtime for Boomer.  We read stories and then put him to bed at 8pm.

And then it was time for my least favorite time of the day... It was Brynn's designated Barbie time. And tonight, she had more bad news for me. I wasn't allowed to play with my favorite Barbie, because she was "frozen" and unable to move. As a result, she had to go sit in the corner and I had to pick out a new Barbie.

"MOM!!! Stop taking pictures and start playing Barbies with me!!"





 So that's my day! It was a pretty normal one.



A List -- for 2011

1) Have a Girls’ Night Out 1x/month. I have successfully completed this action item for January!! Hooray! Now, who’s up for February – December?


2) Update Kitchen. The Dream would be: New Counters (Quartz), an Undermounted Sink, New Floors, and New Paint. I will continue to live with the cupboards and appliances. I will settle for New Paint and New Floors.

3) Update Front Yard. We need to increase the grade in the front-yard to avoid basement water seepage. A bonus would be to build some sort of retaining wall and get not dead yet plants.

4) Lose at least 20 pounds through healthy-eating and exercise. (sigh) This sucks, but it must be done. I’ll feel better and look better. It must be at-least 20 pounds. No compromising.

5) Make the leap and start law office. No more excuses, no more hiding behind “what-ifs.”

6) Have a garage sale and clean the house of excess crap.

7) Hire a babysitter for the kids and graduate from Hoffert training camp.

8) Become a master salsa maker this Summer and stock-pile salsa for winter months.

9) Seriously research and consider the possibility of buying Jeremy a new vehicle.

10) Either eat lunch at home/work at least 2 days per week. I need to stop spending so much money on eating out.

11) Stay up until midnight on December 31, 2011.

Christmas Morning

Yippee!! It only took me a month and a constant refusal to read the manual in order for me to figure out my new camera and get some pictures posted.  Here is Christmas morning:

I was so happy that today was the last day I'd have to yell "Brandon, get away from the TREE!"

Cousin It investigating her stocking.

Continuing to dig in, completely unaware of the huge box hidden behind the blanket.

Um.. "Brandon do whatever you want to the tree. I don't care anymore."

"COOL!! Kitty treats for the cat!!"

After much prompting, she finally saw the blanketed box...

Brynn says "YIPPEE!!!" Daddy says "Seriously?"

How many people/cats can you find in this picture? Answer: 4

Side View.

I loved our Christmas this year -- except for the ER visit on C-Day*, it was perfect.  The kids were spoiled rotten, behaved awesomely, and slept well.  The adults got to chit-chat, snack on yummy food, and remember how awesome it is to be a kid at Christmastime. My family rocks.

*Brynn really enjoyed the ER visit. She got Mom and Dad all to herself for 2 hours and she got to cuddle, watch a movie, AND get presents from the nurses. She keeps asking to go back, so her Christmas WAS perfect!

Let's Tally it Up...

My coworker's have just reminded me of last year's list of resolutions/goals. Let's see how I did:

1) The traditional "lose weight" goal is here. I have gained weight and it is time for it to leave. I have yet to formulate an actual plan to lose weight however. (sigh). (subgoal: come up with a plan to lose weight, other than wishing it away. apparently eating tator tots for dinner does not work)


RESULT: FAIL. I haven't weighed myself, but I'm guessing I have not lost weight. I'm still wearing the same clothes as last year.

2) Clean out all closets and get rid of all non-fitting clothes and all clothes that were purchased prior to 2000. ( subgoal: include Jeremy's clothes as well... even though he still thinks it's classy to wear high-school wrestling t-shirts.)

RESULT: SUCCESS. I am fairly diligent at cleaning out my clothes, as well as the kids' clothes. I did not achieve the subgoal of Jeremy's closet -- but I will consider this bullet item a success!

3) Make 5 new Betty Crocker cookie recipes. (subgoal: find out why her cookbook spells it "cooky")

RESULT: FAIL -- but a possible success in the regard that since I didn't make them, I didn't eat them! So...yeah...I would like to know why she spells it "Cooky" though. Maybe I'll include that on next year's list.


4) Go on a family "vacation." Possible locales: Storybook Land in SD, Minneapolis (i needs me some IKEA and Outlet Mall..and friends, i miss my friends), or KS to see my dad/s-mommy.

RESULT: SUCCESS!  We went to Bismarck in July AND Kansas City in October. (PLUS Jeremy and I went on 2 trips by ourselves!)

5) Get a massage. So far this list is a lot of work.

RESULT: SUCCESS!! Sister Rosalind's had a $15 sale for the graduating students to get enough practice hours in. I let them practice on me. Mu-ha-ha-ha.


6) Formulate a non-halfass business plan for law office. I keep dreaming about opening my own firm, but i need to do something about it other than nothing. (which i have perfected) i need to find out if it is something that i could do, reasonably.

RESULT: EH... DEBATABLE. I attended a 6 hour training on formulating business plans, I have determined how much money I need to bill/generate per month in order to maintain our current level of living, and I have an offer of employment.  Thus far, I am chicken. I may be keeping my business plan half-ass in order to avoid having to make the scary leap into self-employment land.
7) Have (at-least) one date with Jeremy / month.

RESULT: SUCCESS! We go on a lot of lunch dates and have on occassion left the kids with a grandma to go out to eat, see a movie, etc.  We often just talk about the kids and when we're going to go pick them up.


8) Bake a cake from scratch.

RESULT: SUCCESS! (kind-of).  I made tres leches cupcakes and the recipe called for a white cake mix plus a bunch of other ingredients, so I consider this a success. The cupcakes were delicious. The Mexican I baked them for even approved.

9) Landscape front yard... This does not have to be a full-scale landscape, but at the very least it has to be enough to keep stupid neighbor (aka "boatman") from parking his damn boat 1 foot from my bedroom window. he may think it's okay to park on my grass, but it will not be okay to park on my bricks, woodchips, flowers..etc. (subgoal: perfect evil laugh for when boatman sees landscaping and realizes his damn boat cannot be 1 foot from my bedroom window anymore)

RESULT: SUCCESS!! I am very glad I put in the caveat "this does not have to be a full-scale landscape" because it wasn't.  We had an enormous evergreen removed and were left with an even larger dirt patch.  Dirt was brought in to fill the hole, and grass was seeded.  The boat was moved. We couldn't be happier.

10) Update kitchen -- new floor or new paint. something. less fur tumbleweeds from cat.

RESULT: FAIL.  The kitchen hasn't been touched.  I have renewed dreams to get new countertops and an undermounted sink after reading this though. Maybe 2011 will be my year!

11) Start college funds for the kids. I am able to do this online so i just need to get my head outta my arse.

RESULT: SUCCESS. The kids each have a North Dakota 529 plan that we contribute to each month (automatically deducted thankyouverymuch).


12) Let people know when they make me happy. i don't think i'm a mean person, but i don't think i always communicate my positive feelings all the time.

RESULT: SUCCESS -- mostly.  I have done my best to let my family know when I am content, and they think I'm nuts.  "Oh, mommy's getting weird again" is usually the response I get when I start to blurt out stuff like "I am so happy that you are all here. I really love you guys."  I try to call my husband and let him know when I'm thinking about him, because usually, when he walks in the door at night I shove a kid at him and tell him to stay out of the kitchen while I'm cooking...or some other similarly affectionate line.


13) Grow a garden this summer. (subgoal: water the garden regularly)

RESULT: SUCCESS. If you live in Fargo, I'm sure you got a bag, or two, or 20 of my garden crops. It was a huge success, and next year it will be tamed down.

14) Catch up on scrapbooking. (while fun, this is actually daunting since i haven't scrapbooked since Brynn was born)

RESULT: FAIL. I didn't scrapbook a single thing. This still bothers me.


15) Set up extra bedroom. (which is currently a toy/moving box dumping ground...with no bed or furniture other than buried treadmill, which could help me with #1. this list is oddly cyclical
 
RESULT: EH...FAIL.  This one is tricky. The extra bedroom is now an organized toy dumping ground.  My original intent was to have this room actually function as an extra bedroom, and it is not, so it is a fail.
 
OVERALL SCORE:
9/14* SUCCESS!! (or 64%)
5/14* FAIL (or 36%)
 
(*I have calculated based on 14, rather than 15, because I cannot determine if #6 is yay or nay.)
 
Coming Soon: My list of crap to complete in 2011.