Monthly Archives: August 2012

Vacation Post

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Ryan and I are on a little weekend vacation in Chicago do the posts over the next few days will be short and based on the events of that particular day.
The first big news, and actually has nothing to do with our trip is that Rory has a spot in preschool!  I’m do excited to tell him, but I’m also feeling extremely anxious about it.  I want him to go, he wants to go, but I haven’t been alone for any significant amount of time for the last 6 years. 
Now for some fun trip stories.  We were in the elevator of our hotel with 3 other guys, all of which had very thick southern accents.  In just 8 floors of travel, we found out they are from Tennessee and are filming a reality tv show for CMT.  Awesome.  I was starving so we didn’t chat much more than that, but now I want to go find them and ask all kinds of questions. 
The reason I couldn’t talk to the Southern lads was because I had to eat this.image
That is a bone in filet on a bed of wild mushrooms.   I now have the meat sweats.

WTF Wednesday

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I don’t like to boycott business, but lately some of my once favorite places started doing or saying really ridiculous crap and I just can’t support that.

One of the businesses that I may have to boycott is Victoria’s Secret.  I have bought every single bra that I have worn for at least the last 15 years at this store.  I like the products, their return policy is fantastic and when they have a sale…they really have a sale.

However, I have to draw the line with this:

Photo courtesy of Victoria’s Secret.

This is the new Push -Up Sports Bra.  Why, why, why would this be necessary?  According to Vicki, “The Showtime gives you great lift and cleavage with a push-up halter shape for sexy style, even when you’re working out.”  If you are more concerned with having cleavage when you are working out, then you’re doing it wrong.

As a woman who is reliant upon a good, sturdy sports bra during a workout, I can say without a doubt that this is not for anyone with boobs.  Secondly, unless you are an actual Victoria’s Secret model, most women prefer to wear more than just a sports bra when working out.  So having some cleavage under your shirt is kind of a falling on blind eyes, isn’t it?

I’m all for wearing some cute workout gear.  Sometimes that’s the extra motivation to get out and do something, but let’s keep the boobs squished to our bodies like they should be.  Afterall, you don’t want to end up with two oranges in a pair of pantyhose, do you?

 

 

Cutting Me Down To Size

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I was taking some clothes out of the dryer today and I noticed a tag on one of my shirts that said it was a size XL.  It kind of alarmed me because I didn’t recall buying an extra large shirt recently.  Maybe alarmed isn’t the right word, but I knew what shirt it was and I thought I had bought a medium.

Well, as it turns out, I did buy a medium…in the US.  In Japan, my shirt is considered an XL.  Not a large, but an extra large.  Two full sizes bigger.  A few months ago I bought some shorts at Costco.  I normally wear a size 8, but if it’s a slimmer fit, I might wear a size 10.  I held the size 8 up and thought they looked a little big, but figured they would fit.  I got them home and I could pull them on and off without even unbuttoning them.

Some women would rejoice at buying a size 6.  I was pissed!  I am not a size 6.  I know I’m not a size 6 and I am 100% fine, secure and happy with that fact.  Tommy Hilfiger, in what I imagine, in some attempt to attract a vain customer, drastically undersized their clothes.  Out of principle, I returned the size 8 shorts and refused to buy a size 6.  Or maybe a more likely story is that I thought the 6 would be too small and I didn’t want to have to make another trip to the Costco returns counter.

The medium shirt that I bought is actually a workout shirt.  It fits me perfectly.  I know that the sizes have changed quite a bit for women in the last 20 to 30 years and a size 8 today was probably closer to a 12 in 1970.  I don’t really care that much about that, but I like being able to walk into a store and grab a medium or a size 8 and walk out with quite a bit of confidence that it’s going to fit.

I do wonder what happens to the size 0 or size 2 ladies.  Are they in the negative sizes now?  Do they have to buy girl’s clothes?  Or do the clothes designers figure there most likely isn’t any sense in playing into a potential body insecurity issue with someone who is that small so they just keep them true to size?

 

Another Menu

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This should be called Another Half Ass Menu, but I like to try and keep things clean around here.  Ha!

Ryan and I are heading to Chicago on Thursday sans children so I can’t be bothered with what my kids are going to be eating from Thursday to Sunday.

Monday – Italian Potato Torta and salad – I have never made this before and it is requiring me to turn the oven on.  It’s a little warm today and I do not want to turn the air on, but I also don’t want to figure out something else to make for dinner.

Tuesday – Slow Cooker Beef Stroganoff – Another “light” meal.  It’s going to be even warmer tomorrow so clearly I have really thought this through.

Wednesday – Souplantation – My parents are flying in to watch the kids and what better way to welcome them to California than a trip to one of the best buffets in the country?  Plus, I think they’ll both qualify for the senior discount.  Nothing says I love you like buying someone dinner on a discount.  We just have to get them there before 5:00pm.

Thursday – ????? – If you have any suggestions of where Ryan and I should go to dinner in Chicago, I’m all for it.  We have a few recommendations, but I like to keep my options open.  I’m open to any and all places as long as they don’t suck.  We are staying on W. Monroe.

Happy eating!

Shake, Shake, Shake

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I have lived in California for a combined total of roughly 5 1/2 years and as most people know, California is known for earthquakes.  I felt my first earthquake about a year after we moved to San Diego – sometime in 2004.

Coincidentally,  that first earthquake I felt happened the day after I was asking all kinds of questions about what one is to do if there is an earthquake.  I had lived in San Diego an entire year and hadn’t felt a single shutter, but also realized I had no idea what I was supposed to do if I did.

The next day, I was sitting in my office and all of a sudden, I felt like I was falling out of my chair, I heard a low rumbling and my computer monitor was shaking.  It took me a minute to register what was happening and at nearly the exact moment I thought earthquake!, I heard my manager yell down the hall for everyone to get in their doorways.

I wasn’t scared – not even the slightest bit.  I don’t know why since the only information I had about earthquakes was from movies like the aptly named, Earthquake, 10.5 and Aftershock.  None of these movies featured slight tremors, they used the best special effects available to them at the time to create an unbelievably huge earthquake.

I stood in my doorway with a stupid grin on my face while my co-workers maintained a more stoic appearance.  Afterall, most them were California natives – they knew what could happen and fortunately, it didn’t.  There was another aftershock that day, but only minimal damage to a couple of store fronts.

Feeling an earthquake was one of those things that I couldn’t even fathom what it would be like until it happened.  It was the same sense of wonder I had when I found out I was pregnant.  I couldn’t imagine what it was going to feel like to have a baby kick me from the inside. 

There were a couple of earthquakes today – neither of them felt by me.  I can’t say that I like feeling the earth move under my feet (you got that song in your head now, don’t you?), since they can obviously be extremely dangerous, but on those slight little tremors where there is no damage or injuries, I feel like I missed out on Mother Nature’s free little amusement park ride.

White Bean Ranch Dip

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I found this recipe in the store flier a couple of weeks ago and I thought it would be perfect for Kamryn to take to school with some veggies in her lunch.  It had a big “Kid Approved” thumbs up stamp on it, only had 3 ingredients, was low calorie and high protein.

1 can (15 oz) white beans such as great norther or cannellini

1 cup low-fat or fat-free sour cream

1 1 oz package dry ranch dressing mix

Drain and rinse beans.  Puree with sour cream and ranch dressing mixing in a food processor or blender.

I made this tonight and I think it’s delicious.  Kamryn tried it and she said “Yum!” before it was barely in her mouth and then didn’t eat another bite – she ate baby carrots sans dip!  I had Rory try it and he made the most disgusted face he could muster and asked for blue cheese instead.

Kid approved my ass!  It has a very hummus-like texture because of the beans, but I didn’t think that would be such a turn off for my kids who would drink a gallon ranch if I let them.  And since my kids have eaten hummus and liked it.

I stamp this dip Adult Approved and highly suggest you make it.  It also suggested putting it on bagels (I don’t know about that) or using it on sandwiches instead of mayo.  I think that would be really good too.

Knock-Knock

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Rory learned a new skill today:  How to break bad news with a joke.

This morning Rory came in to wake me up with this:

Rory:  Knock, knock.

Me:  Who’s there.

Rory:  Pee.

Me:  Pee who?

Rory:  I pee in my bed.

I asked him if he was serious or it was just a joke.  He said it was just a joke.

Rory learned two new skills today:  How to lie to his mom.

Weekly Menu

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I am finally feeling a bit more organized, but at the cost of feeling rested.  I am exhausted.  I haven’t been home one night this week and barely for an hour during the day.  Tomorrow won’t be much different, but the weekend is upon us and then I can rest.

I’ll get you through the rest of the week for dinner, though.

Thursday – BLT’s and Fries – I wanted something fast, easy and with bacon.

Friday – Smothered Pork Chops – I don’t like pork chops.  That may be illegal since I am from Iowa, but I have never had a great pork chop.  These, however, come close with.  It’s probably just because they are covered in gravy.

Saturday – Chicken Cordon Bleu – This is turning into one of my tried and true recipes.  Every time I make it, it’s good.  I think it’s kind of hard to screw up.

Sunday – Zesty Lime Shrimp and Avocado Salad – I just discovered this website, skinnytaste.com and there are some damn good recipes on there.  I don’t like using fat free things like cheese, dressings, etc.  I may get low fat, but not fat free.  Anyway, I like this site because it uses herbs, vegetables and spices for flavor instead of a bottle of chemicals.

Happy eating!

Rethinking Preschool

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There is a chance that Rory will be starting preschool in a couple of weeks.  I am on a waiting list to get him in, but decided to follow up and see if there had been any pre-preschool dropouts in the meantime.  I was told that there may be a spot for him, but they wouldn’t know for sure for a week or two.  I told her I wasn’t in any hurry and 2 weeks would actually be ideal for a start date.

This morning when I dropped Kamryn off at school, she was all smiles and didn’t have a care in the world.  It made it really easy on me as well.  I know this has a lot to do with her being in her Pre-K class last year, being familiar with the school, having the same teacher and seeing lots of familiar faces.  It didn’t even phase me that my little girl was starting kindergarten.Then I saw my friend, Patty.  She just sent her two youngest girls off for their first day of kindergarten and she was a little glum.  Poor Patty.  I still have Rory to send off to school so I know I have two years before I need to face that realization that there will be no more 1st days of kindergarten.

I went home and started organizing the kitchen to accommodate all the food I bought at Costco last night so I could easily make Kamryn’s lunch in the morning.  That got me thinking…if Rory starts preschool, he’ll go 3 days a week.  At first that was so exciting for me.  I thought of all the things I could get done during a week, but seriously, after about 2 weeks, what else am I going to do?  And then, I was the glum one.  I started to get all teary-eyed thinking of sending my little boy to preschool.

Someone once asked me if I just had Rory for entertainment purposes.  Well, no…I had no idea he would be as entertaining as he is, that’s just a bonus.  Today I got a super bonus.

I had to go to Home Depot to pick up some plumbing supplies.  (Note to self, don’t become a plumber.  It sucks.)  I still had 45 minutes before I had to pick up Kamryn and it wasn’t worth it to go home and leave again so we went over to Ross to browse.  I picked out a couple of things for the kids – a first day of school present – I don’t know why I insist on spoiling my children.  Anyway, we were standing in line and a very short man walked past Rory and I.

Now, Rory is barely 3 feet tall himself, and this man, while he wasn’t technically a Little Person, he was a very short man.  He was probably in his mid to late 60’s, and not quite 5 feet tall.

The minute Rory saw him, his eyes got wide.  I was already biting the inside of my cheek just because of Rory’s reaction.  But then, he turned to me and shouted, “That guy is LITTLE!”  I heard a couple of snickers behind me and I now had my teeth fully imbedded into the flesh in my cheek.  I stood, looking straight ahead of me as the little man turned and looked in our direction.

That got Rory a little too excited and he started to say it again!  He got out, “Mama, look at that…” and I nudged him on the arm and said the first thing that popped in my head, “Come on, we need to go get Sissy!”  That was enough of an interruption to at least stop him mid-sentence.

Luckily, it was our turn to pay and we got the hell out of there.  I stepped outside and out came the suppressed laughter.  Rory asked me what I was laughing at, I told him I was laughing at him and he got pissed.  Ahhh, Rory, you must stay home with me and be my little jester for just a bit longer.

School Starts…

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tomorrow.  Shit.  Shit.  Shit.

I haven’t been to the store for anything worthwhile in about 2 weeks.  We have been eating bits and pieces of meals for about the last week and going out all the other times.  I may stop by the store and pick up part of a meal, but nothing that will get us past one dinner.  I hate feeling this unorganized.

Kamryn is starting school tomorrow and I have to pack her a lunch and a snack.  I am going to despise this part of school unless I figure out a really good plan on how to go about it.  I know there are websites dedicated to healthy kid lunches and I will be hitting every single one tomorrow.

I went to Costco tonight and bought a ton of fruit and vegetables.  Kamryn likes both and I have a plan of packing her a bunch of little containers of things because if there is something she decides she doesn’t like that day, she’ll have about 5 other things to pick from.

In my completely unorganized state that I have been in, I forgot, or maybe just didn’t bother, getting Kamryn her new lunch bag.  We ended up at Target today to a completely picked over lot of blue lunch bags.  As luck would have it, there was one, kind of blingy Hello Kitty bag that she snatched up.  There was another girl on stand-by if Kamryn put it down so I told her to throw it in the cart.

I also got her a Hello Kitty thermos.  Kamryn was not familiar with thermoses and what purpose they serve.  I told her I could put any food that she wanted in it that was hot and it would stay hot until lunchtime.  Her eyes lit up and she said, “Like soup?”

“Well, yeah, soup, but it’s 80 degrees outside.”

“I want soup.”

So on Kamryn’s first day of school, she’ll be carting along chicken noodle soup, 1/2 peanut butter and jelly sandwich, pudding, and some kind of hybrid apple-pear thing I found at Costco.  I’m also going to throw in some strawberries and baby carrots.  Mmmmmm.

I  have another plan of filling her thermos full of ice cream one day as a surprise for her.  Last summer she was in a little pre-school camp where she had to bring a lunch and one day I put one Hershey Kiss in there.  She acted like she discovered the meaning of life when she found it.  Seriously…best. day. ever.  Just think what she would do with a full thermos of ice cream!