Domestically Challenged

I miss her so much

It's really strange - there are some days that I cope with losing my mom ok and then there are days like today. Days where I am doing something and the loss just punches me in the gut when I'm not looking.

Today was obviously the latter.

I am in the middle of some tough decisions with work and childcare and I just wanted to talk to her. I just wanted to bounce ideas off of her. Losing her was like losing my own personal cheerleader. I know I have friends to talk about this with (thank God!) and my husband (who has been my pilar of strength - yes, I know it's corny) but it still isn't the same. It isn't the same as talking to her. It was like I could talk to her and get suggestions - they might not be even remotely helpful, but they were still supportive and she tried. I just still feel so empty about it all. <sigh>

Menu Plan Monday - 10 minute meals

Here's a big gift to working moms everywhere (and remember, we're ALL working moms!) - the NY Times just posted an article by Mark Bittman called 101 Simple Meals Ready in 10 Minutes or Less.

Really? Talk about a man after my own heart. As you know, I am NOT a cook and I have very little time on my hands. Cooking is not my thing. In fact, it usually ends in lots of bad words and a big mess. But, there may be something to this.

Here's the best part: "These suggestions are not formal recipes; rather, they provide a general outline. With a little imagination and some swift moves — and maybe a salad and a loaf of bread — you can turn any dish on this list into a meal that not only will be better than takeout, but won’t heat you out of the house."

This is EXACTLY what I need. Easy main dishes that I can cook in a jiffy. My only worry is that the kids won't eat what's on the list. I have very picky kids. I don't want to set myself up to where they are eating dino chicken all the time still again. A Lot of the stuff on the list are foriegn to me (as usual) but that doesn't mean I can't try? What's the worst that can happen - takeout? Been there, done that.

Do you have any 10 minute meals you can share?

You know you live in Arizona when...

• You burn your arm on your car window at the drive through. I recently suffered a bad enough burn that it blistered and now hurts like someone is stabbing me in the elbow with a hot, pointy poker.
• You go out to the pool to swim and the POOL is 96 degrees! It feels like a bathtub.
• You have a cooling trend because it barely reaches 105 degrees.
• A day with 25% humidity has you begging you for a dry heat day.

No Harry Potter for me

Oh, I'm supposed to have my new Harry Potter book. I pre-ordered it in February. UPS says it was delivered. It wasn't. Know how I know? Because I was home all day yesterday.

I have emailed Barnes and Noble. I have emailed UPS. I have no Harry Potter book. I am sad.

Now I have to find other ways to distract myself. Like cleaning. Blech. I want my book! <sniff>

Childcare neurosis

OK, so I should be sleeping, instead I am surfing the net on my palm pilot (and it's like 3 AM). I am freaking out about childcare. Since I didn't get my transfer, I now work like 8 miles away from the school the kids will be at. Seems silly to see it in writing but it really bothers me. Not only that, but I have to find someone to watch the princess and drive her to school. We don't let other people drive our kids. Ever. This freaks us out, but right now I don't see another option. When I think about it, it makes me sick. I literally want to puke right now except that I am in bed and the know  all already peed in my bed. On accident, of course.

So, I have a barely slept for two days because I have been so stressed. Sometimes I wish I could be one f those carefree moms who aren't neurotic and can just roll with it. Not me. I worry about how far away I will be from the kids, I worry about someone else taking my precious princess to school. but what are my other options? I don't see any. Plus I am going to have to make two stops in the morning and battle traffic to get to my school. And the gas I am going to spend commuting - it scares me to think about it. But I have a great teaching schedule that will allow me to get my brows waxed easily on my lunch break.

I just hate the idea of being so far away. Sniff. Then I wonder - am I (or are we) the only parents who don't let others drive their kids all over town? I mean, there has to other parents like us.

I'm in babysitter hell

I'm having a bad babysitter day. Really. I have been rejected by two different sitters today. How many moms can claim that? Not too many, I suspect.

First, the weekend sitter situation. We sort of have a sitter, but she has a tendency to cancel on us. A lot. Like this past weekend when I really, really needed to go out. Now, we have another event type thingy and we aren't sure if we have her or not. She does a fabulous job with the kids, but we never know if she is going to sit for us until she is physically at our house.

Because of this, I have been trolling for another sitter. I have been emailing with a potential one for about 5 days now and she jsut informed me that she is moving at the end of the month. I don't know about you, but we like our babysitter to become an extended part of our family, so our immediate issue of Friday night would be ok, but not long term. And I should explain, my huband and I aren't the type who go out and leave our kids with sitters for a day at a time. But we do like to go out for dinner or a movie every 2-3 weeks. Or, at least we used to. We had a kick ass sitter before (she has ruined it for every other sitter who ever comes after her, because NO ONE will ever compare to her. Ever) and I had my parents before my mom passed. Now, we are just screwed. SOOOOOOOOO frustrating!!! I need my grown up time!!

Then, to make it even better, I was rejected by yet another sitter. I was planning to meet with her this week about watching my daughter in the mornings before her Pre-K. She emailed me today stating that she can't watch my daughter. This is the lady I was SO excited to meet because she was willing to walk my daughter to school. You see, with all of my other neurosis, I also don't like to have other people drive my kids. Call me paranoid if you like, but my husband and I do not let other people drive wround with our kids.

Menu Monday - Here's a plan for you

Notice I said you, not me. :) I read a great article in the NY Times about a mom and how she plans her menus for the week. It was a great article (you can read it here), but I had some issues with it.

My main issue? Not only could I not pronounce half of the items she mentioned, I had never heard of them! Now, as we all know, I am domestically challenged and make no attempt to hide it. In fact, since my mom's passing and my partial nervous breakdown, I am gainfully trying to get back to a point where my kids don't eat dino chicken 4 times a week. I. Kid. You. Not. But, I admit it, at least.

I like Kaufman's suggestion about having options at the table that will fit what everyone likes. But her options threw me.

"The next night we had lamb cooked on the grill, couscous with olives and lemon and okra pickle. My husband and I ate everything (and drank a nice zinfandel); Sam had lamb and couscous; Joe had couscous, cottage cheese and baby carrots. Needless to say, no child touched the okra."

Sounds great, but what the hell is couscous? I've heard of it, but it sounds like something that is WAY outta my league.

So, I will take a few of the tips and see where it takes me. Can't get any worse, right? Feel free to share your menu planning tips.

When snoring doesn't mean you are sleeping...

Contrary to popular belief, snoring is NOT an indication of sleep in the following situations:

--When hubby goes out to a baseball game, then plays golf early the next morning and then collapses on the couch, while I continue to wrestle with the kids.

--When hubby plays another round of golf the very next day and comes home to collapse on the couch for 2 hours. Everytime I "accidentally" tried to talk to him, the conversation went like this:

Me: Are you sleeping?

H:(after some snorting noises) No, I wasn't sleeping.

Me: But you were snoring.

H: No, I wasn't.

Me: Ok, what was it?

H: I was just breathing.

Yup. Breathing in a very distinct snoring type of pattern that is NOT sleeping.

Which Disney fairie are you?

This is soooooo random, but my daughter received a Tinkerbell doll for her birthday. In it, there was a 32 second dvd about the fairies and one of the activities was to see which fairie you were most like. Silly little quiz, right?

No, it is not. Mine was dead on.

I was most like Iridessa.

Not sure if this quiz will bear the same results, but if you have a little one who wants to take the quiz (because I'm sure you aren't nearly as immature as I am) here is a link to a Disney Fairie quiz.

It's almost that time again. Unfortunately

I have roughly 3.5 weeks left of summer vacation. Then it's back to schedules, grading essays and the god awful commute. I was perusing (read: wasting time) the net yesterday and found an article on AZCetral.com about working moms. You can read the article here, but here are a few highlights...

Basically, the article states tha being a working mom is less apealing than it was in the past. All I can say to this is duh! With all the push for being a working mom and SAHM (and trust me, I know!) working moms are like the red headed stepchilds (metaphorically speaking, of course) of motherhood.

"What hasn't changed unfortunately is the workplace," she says. "Society is asking all mothers to do it all and do it better and better and they have their hands tied behind their backs."

Isn't this the truth?! I am sooooooooo sick of all the Mommy War talk and have been for a while. Now, as a mom who chose to go back to work, after not only being a SAHM/WAHM but writing a book about it, this has been an issue very close to my heart. And here's what I say - can't we all just get along? Do we have to judge other moms based on their decisions?

I firmly believe all the fighting is because women are so catty. LOL