Food follow up

I wanted to quickly update ya’ll on dinner planning for this week…all of four days.

First HUGE thanks to my buddies for posting via facebook some easy dump recipes (crock pot and casserole).  I can’t wait to incorporate them into the next couple week’s planning!

Monday Night’s Chicken Parmesan – it was DELICIOUS!  And don’t you love my plates?  They aren’t new – they were Hubby’s grandma’s and I just remembered that they were in the attic at , Patsy’s, my MIL.  They are perfect for our new dining room (or as Bubba calls it – the family room.)

Tuesday Night was the Roast – and wow – it was super easy and really tasty!!!  Here is was going into the crock pot.  Water, a packet or brown gravy mix, packet of italian dressing mix, and a packet of ranch – with an added splash of red wine!  Served with rice and bourbon carrots…one of Pootie’s favorites. 

 

Wednesday night I cooked a meatloaf, one of Hubby’s favorite meals…with garlic cheese mashed potatoes and peas.  I always cook a meatloaf like my gram would have – with a blend of ground meats.  Beef, lamb, turkey, or pork.  The sauce on top is my mom’s secret recipe – and it’s amazing on meatloaf!!! 

Tonight, Thursday, is the PF Chang’s Lettuce Wrap.  My family LOVES it!!!  And it’s super easy to make ahead and they can eat it when it works in their schedule.  I think it needed a touch more rice wine vinegar, but I ran out. I serve it with a peanut sauce and the hot sriracha sauce.  SOOO yummy!!!

Hubby was very pleased, as were the kids to have dinner as soon as they walked into the house.

YEAH ME!!!!

Wedding Ideas & Under re-construction

So being an old married lady as I am now…it’s funny when we go to weddings now.  We’ve been to two weddings in the year.  OUR friends have kids getting married.  EKKKKKK! 

I’m going to really date myself when I type this sentence….weddings have really changed since 1994 when we got hitched!

First off, we’re the old people. 

But the other thing that has changed, as it always does, and always will, are the “gimmicks”.  The neat fun things that they come up with…

The photo booth is the big craze right now – and it’s so much fun!  I think it’s a fabulous idea! 

Here are our photo booth pictures from Ivey and Brett’s wedding the other day!  The Bubba LOVED it!!!

Don’t we look like we were having a blast!!????  We were!

And it’s that time of the year again, I’m bored…need to have some re-construction on the ol’blog!!!  Stay tuned…not sure if I’m ready to jump right into a fall thing!

The cost of education

I’ve not kept quite regarding my frustration with the schools over the past couple of years.  (shocker, right?)  I believe in public education.  Or I did.  I have my kids in the same school system that I was a part of.  There are some great things about the schools around here…..but I really think the “great things” list is getting shorter and shorter.

One of my beefs right now is the LIST that the teachers send home of the things the kids HAVE TO HAVE.  And some of these lists go beyond ridiculous.  (It’s my opinion) 

Here is the list of things that I have just had to purchase in the past 48 hours.  And oh it’s not over.  This is just the beginning..

Kid	Item	Cost
Pootie	Novel-Things Fall Apart	$11.95
Pootie	Novel-Kite Runner	$16.00
Pootie	Novel-Night	$9.95
Lola	Novel-Baser Five Two	$5.99
Crash	Novel – The Great Gatsby	$15.00
Pootie	WORKBOOK- Vocab Roots D	$16.65
All 3	5 Subject Notebook	$4.99 each – had to buy 6 so $30.00
Pootie	3 sets of 12 tabs/dividers	$12.99
All 3	college ruled filler paper	$3.00
All 3 because this list is too dang long…	dry erase markers, 4-2” binders, 3-1” binders, sketch book, scotch tape, double sided tape, black pens, colored pencils, erasers, rulers, red pens, regular pencils, (WALMART)	$89.00
All 3 the other day before the crowds got crazy	glue sticks (they use the crud out of these things in middle school) 8-1 subject notebooks, colored pencils because we can’t have too many of these…pencil sharpeners,	$33.00
Pootie	WORKBOOK – for German 2	$12.00
Lola	Agenda purchase and LOCKER RENTAL	$7.00
Crash	Agenda purchase and LOCKER RENTAL	$7.00
Pootie	Agenda	$5.00
	Total	$274.65

And I will have more items to purchase tomorrow, because today they had their B day classes….and next quarter there will be more novels and more supplies to purchase. 

Before you start on me about purchasing books….the new thing in language arts classes is ANNONTATING.  That means writing in the books!!!  So guess what I cannot do – REUSE the books!!!  Because they want “CLEAN” books…..So all the books I purchase for Pootie – they’re a ONE USE ONLY BOOK.  Crash cannot use them.  Lola cannot use them- and I really am not even sure if there is a charitable organization that wants annotated books? 

My beef over the notebooks is the teachers want these 5 subject notebooks – ask me how many of those bad boys come home half empty.  It never fails…wasted paper. let’s use all of a one subject notebook, then get another one and so forth. 

And then there is the locker rental.  Really – locker rental.  Average of 800 students, $2.00 a student $1,600.00 just in rentals of lockers that have been there for 12 years.  That’s $19,200.00 in rental income. 

Oh and then I got a form home asking if I intended to send Crash on the 8th grade field trip (no disrespect to my favorite teachers on this one either)  to Charleston, SC.  For a trip that will last about 30 hours, not including travel time.  Ask me how much…go ahead.  Ask me.  $250.00 for 30 hours!!!  REALLY.  NO.  And it’s the end of January. Seriously – don’t ya think it might be a TAD cold for a dinner cruise (Pizza for dinner) and a DJ at the end of January.  And really – how does this tie into the curriculum?  (Again, I swear I love some of these teachers, I just cannot wrap my brain around this!) 

So, free public education – no such thing. 

Noah was a wise man….

“It pays to plan ahead.  It wasn’t raining when Noah built the ark.”

Today…ugg.  I’ve dreaded this day for several weeks.  The first day of school.  I hate it.  Always have.  I like the kids being home and the lazy days of summer. 

Today I have to get back to being my control-planning-think-everything thru- self. 

The school start/end times for the middle school SUCKS.  No other word for it.  SUCKS.  The brilliant minds that run things changed us to a 9-4 school.  And the bus ride of course is a long one, because there are stupid people making these decisions….The bus comes at 7:50am and drops them off at 5:02pm. (That’s for Crash and Lola.  Pootie is on the same NORMAL schedule of 7:15-2:15.)  It is just not possible or economical for me to pick them up everyday. 

Add in the extra curricular activities (soccer) and I’ve got to be a NOAH.  Plan plan plan.

Or we’d starve.

Or go broke eating out

Here is the meal plan and kid shuffle for this week. 

Monday- (tonight) 

Chicken Parmesan with side of spaghetti and broccoli.  Pootie has practice from 5-6:30.  Hubby is reffing game at 7:00 up the road.   I’m sure I’ll have to have a beer to get thru all the ridiculous paperwork that I know is going to descend on me tonight. 

Bubba helped me get dinner ready this morning.  He loves to help cook!!!  He says “I’m a great helper and stirrer mommy.”  Yes you are Bubba!  And so dang cute!!!

I pounded out the chicken breasts really thin. Then lightly breaded with Italian breadcrumbs and garlic (we love garlic).

Sautéed a little – to brown…

Put into pryex dish.  I’ll pour sauce and cheese over before putting in the oven!!  Yummy yummy!!!

Tuesday

Roast with rice and bourbon carrots.  Crash has practice on Tuesdays from 4:45 til 6:15 (yeah, go back and look at his bus schedule) but the coach is giving them this Tuesday off because he knows it’s a hot mess with the bus schedule for so many of us.  Pootie has practice from 6:15-7:45.  I’m also helping out my friend, Suzanne, and watching her two boys on Tuesday evening.  Love her boys! 

Wednesday

PF Chang’s Lettuce Wraps – a family favorite.  Crash has practice from 6:00-7:30 and Pootie is 8:00-9:30.  On Wednesday afternoons at 3:50 I pick up my neighbors son from his bus drop off – he attends a private school and they do community drop offs. 

Thursday

MeatLoaf with mashed taters and baby peas.  Pootie practice from 6:00-7:30 and Crash 7:30-9:00

Friday

Leftovers.  Hubby goes to take care of Robb now on Friday nights.  (He is our friend with Lou Gehrig’s)  No one has practice this Friday.  Pootie has a game on Saturday and Sunday.  Friday will be a recovery day for all of us!  

I haven’t even been able to THINK about when Lola starts with her afterschool activities (she is dying for Drama to start)….

So from here on out – it’s cooking in the morning.  Having a game plan.  Knowing what we are going to eat for dinner makes my afternoons so much easier to handle. 

So- if you have any good easy recipes to share – since I’m having to be creative with casseroles and crockpots – let me know!!! 

And just remember..

It’s not the plan that’s important…it’s the planning!

Baby Steps

May 2011, when we first noticed Bubba’s “weird walking”.  Within two weeks we had a soft diagnosis of tight heel cords and had started physical therapy.  He was two years old. 

I decided then that I would not beat myself up about not noticing things sooner.  I reminded myself that I didn’t catch it, but neither did anyone else.  Not the case worker that case from the Early Childhood Intervention program and not his pediatrician (who we love by the way but that’s a whole other story)

November 2011 Bubba was fitted for his “wittle ba-waces”.  He was really good about wearing them – until this summer.   I think he decided he didn’t like wearing them because they are just dang HOT….the socks are thick and long (like soccer socks) I also think they are getting tight and he should be fitted for a new pair.  I’m dreading that battle again with the insurance company.  Damnit.  Why can’t they make it easy? 

The point of the braces is/was to help with stretching his heels thereby helping him walk “correctly”.  When you are walking, your heel strikes the ground first.  Bubba stay's “jacked up” on his toes.  And when he is tired, his right foot turns in a bit.  He is now very aware of HOW to walk the right way…we tell him all the stinkin’ time.  HEEL TOE.  HEELS DOWN.  BUBBA PUT THOSE FEET DOWN.  All of us in this family say it to him allllll the time! 

And it’s all worth every dime, moment, breath to see him walking “the right way”  (he does a pretty dang good job considering he’s not in his braces, he’s wearing new shoes that are a tad too big to make room for new braces AND he keeps turning round to check to see that I’m still there…) 

The Bubba

He’s precious huh?  And yes, he calls the boat DOCK the boat STOP…so freaking sweet…..we were at Beatty Park this morning, just me and the Bubba, walking around, feeding the ducks and geese…and walking..and walking….

Here are a few of the pictures of him feeding the duckies and geeses as he says…That big white duck, he wanted to get in his lap!  He loved it!!!

Sleepy babe, Yummy dinners and stuff

This is just the cutest thing…..Bubba trying to stay awake thru dinner – poor guy.  He tries to hang with the big kids. 

The Bubba going nighty night.

Last week during the nasty poison ivy mess, I was feeling so sick.  My Momma, bless her heart, felt so sorry for me, so she cooked us dinner two nights.  Mom is an incredible cook, my kids have declared her “the BEST cook every”….and on Wednesday night she made one of our family-all-time-favorite dinners…PINWHEELS (creation made famous years and years ago by my sweet Aunt Millie.)

Here they are coming out of the oven…

And here on Crash’s plate.  The recommended side dishes are little baby peas and applesauce- but we did green beans….still delicious. 

Crash ended up eating 5 of those suckers.  Lola ate 3.  So so very good….

On the 18th, this past Saturday, my friend Donna’s daughter got married.  This is the first of my girl-friends kids to get hitched.  Ivey and Brett had a lovely ceremony, and the reception was AMAZING. 

Lola got to hand out the programs…and doesn’t she look just too stinking cute!  I just love this dress on her…..

And this is his new motorcycle from our good friend, Sandy.  Sandy has been so generous in passing forward many of the cool toys that her boys used.  His little buggy car, yep, Sandy.  A HUGE bag of stickers that we’ve used for physical therapy (put your sticker foot up first…sticker takes the first step….or as Bubba said for a while “the w-ite foot always gets the sticker mom”) And now, the motorcycle.  It has a solid base, so it doesn’t drive around anywhere – but when he turns the handlebars, it turns it around on the base….he LOVES it!  And yes, he actually wears the helmet on the motorcycle that goes NO WHERE…he’s a stickler for the rules..

Medical School…..

No.  I have not decided to attend medical school.  But I’m guessing after what I’ve dealt with this past week, that I could have for all the dang doctors know.

Here’s the case study for all those with an inquiring minds…

Two weekends ago, while and I was being volunteer of the year for soccer, my eye started itching – not really my EYEBALL, but the skin underneath my lower lid.  I thought I’d been bit by a bug.  Saturday night it was a tad puffy.  Sunday I had the trainers at the field look at it.  They did not see a “point of entry” (bug bite mark) and thought maybe I had a sty.  Hubby has stys – neither one of us thought it was a sty.

Sunday night it hurt and was puffy.  Monday morning I looked like I  had painted a red patch around my eye and it was VERY puffy.  Hubby told me to go to the doctor. 

OH – did I mention that by the time I woke up on Monday morning I hate a NICE headache going and was barfing my head off so I had to get Pootie up out of the bed to drive me to the doc…nice huh?  But thank the lord he can drive!!

Off to the primary care physician we head….me gagging and the boy driving.  Nice doctor looks at my eye – he’s not really sure what is wrong.  He thinks that it is probably a skin infection (fancy word used was a cellu-something or other) but he couldn’t rule out that it wasn’t MSRA so he wanted to treat me for that as well.  So two antibiotics and I’m out the door.  Was told to come back on Wednesday morning….Spend the day in the bed trying to recover from headache.  My awesome mom made dinner for the family…amen and halleluiah.

Monday night – the bumpy rash is now under my chin, behind my ears, on my neck…..Tuesday morning, it’s on my shoulder, on the left side of my face and it itched like crazy! 

Wednesday morning so back…rash thing is now on my shoulder…..Dr. Young Guy checks me again.  He is totally puzzled at what it is.  He chats with older doc out in the hallway about “my case”.  Dr. Older Guy comes in and checks my face and neck and shoulders out…he doesn’t have a clue.  But they tell me what they think it is NOT.   They are pretty sure it’s not shingles.  They are pretty sure it’s not chicken pox.  They are pretty sure it’s not poison ivy or oak…still thinking it’s some sort of infection.

They send me home still on the two anti’s PLUS they give me a middle of the road steroid cream to put on the “rash”.  This time they say – give it over the weekend and if it’s not gone or getting better, we think you should see a dermatologist.

So today, I went to the dermatologist.

Guess what I’ve had?  FREAKING POISON IVY!!!  Well, to be honest, Dr. Skin Doc said he is really not sure if it was poison ivy or oak since it’s really going away.  He was chuckling too.  He said it was CLASSIC poison ivy/oak – it was very linear.  Meaning that there were very clear LINES of rash…he told me the antibiotics didn’t do squat….and the cream – well – it was not something he’d recommend putting on a face.

So how about that. 

Two primary care visits $50 total

Two antibiotics $14 total

One steroid cream $15

One specialist visit $45

Being finally diagnosed with Poison Freaking Ivy – not priceless  $124 GONE! UGGGGGG

So very …..ummmm…

So this weekend was the boys weekend of the Dick’s Invitational Soccer Tourney.  And I care why…well it’s the CSA August tourney, and CSA is the club that the boys play for…*yes I realize I just ended the dang sentence with a preposition…I’m too freaking tired to care. Crash’s team was participating in this tourney – Pootie’s was not….So in this HUGE club that we belong too..it seems that we are always desperate for volunteers. So I agreed to help on the boys weekend…*disclaimer – we ALWAYS volunteer for everything we just usually do it on the girl weekend so I don’t have to worry about watching games, etc…..but next weekend is a crazy weekend for us, it’s just not gonna work for me to help….

I was the Head Field Marshall at one of the complexes being utilized for Tthis tourney.  Manchester Meadows down the road in Rock Hill, SC. It was where Crash’s games were gonna be and we really could make it work by staying at the MIL and FIL’s….they were out of town…..

So my schedule was 7am until the end of each game for each day.

I am exhausted….my feet hurt…I wore my sneakers…I’m sunburned…and I had the pleasure of working with some of the best folks ever.  My family being the main ones…

I’m a real stickler for my kids learning to be a part of things….if you are part of a school.  Step up..help!  If you are part of a soccer club…STEP UP – help!  if ya play tiddlywinks…where the hell are ya!!!  HELP!!!!!!

So my sweet daughter LOLA– WHO HATES SOCCER- helped all day Saturday and Sunday.  She charmed many folks too!  She was the gate keeper of the restricted parking and managed to NOT make people mad..she stocked referee coolers with water and fruit and delivered their lunches.  She cleaned up after people…she helped direct people to fields…she was generally A-MAZZZZZZ-INGGGG!!! 

Pootie helped with the fields – trust me when I tell you the rules to use these particular fields are STRICT—he kept parents within the red lines…kept folks off the unused fields, carried cases of water, ran match reports back and forth and helped with the Bubba…because yes, he was there all day each day too.  And seriously, how any 3 year old could hang like the Bubba…beyond me.  He was the entertainment to say the least.  I had one or two little meltdowns – but they lasted seconds.  He was awesome – I’m so very impressed and proud.

it really is beyond me how so many people cannot come up with just a little time to help.  Why wouldn’t you teach you kids to be a part of something?  As parents we pay BIG money to these clubs so our kids can play so why not make the kids help out?  I don’t get it…my kids love it – they get to know different coaches – different parents – the referees on a new level…it’s good for them….

Sad thing is – this boys weekend is half the size of the upcoming girls weekend….and guess what – they still need people to help.  Just bugs me….but as I’ve said before it’s this way in the schools, clubs, and even the churches!  what is with people!!!!!

 

 

 

Here are two of the “funnier” things that happen at our fields…

• I had to tell one mom that she needed to go back to the parent side – she could not be on the coaches/players side even though her son had just come off the field “hurt”.  He had a cramp.   A cramp.  Yes a cramp – he came out of the game for a leg cramp.  The mom went running like he’d just had his leg broken or something.  Swear. – Um no, there was no confusing the situation – he WALKED OFF the damn field!  The 13 year old boy was mortified – he was all “MOOOOOOMMMMMM!”  I looked at mom and said – really – you need to go back to your side now.  She said “oh but I need to see if he’s ok…. I said He’s fine – we’ll take care of it”.   He said smiled at me and mouthed “thank you”…my boys would have a fit if I did that to them!
• I had to call the dang po-po~!  SERIOUSLY.  To have a parent escorted out because he wouldn’t leave when the head referee guy told him to leave…..so we had to call the po-po to throw this parent out!!!  Here’s the best part…the game that the guy was watching – it wasn’t his kids team!  It was their “sister” team!  WHO THE HELL GETS THROWN OUT OF GAME  THAT THEIR KID ISN’T EVEN PLAYING IN!!!!!! It’s just soccer people!