I haven't worked this hard...

...in a long time!  Jon is on call and, well, when it rains it pours. He got several calls last night and hardly slept. He was up and gone in the wee hours and didn't get home until 12ish. He's been home for a while but has to leave again tonight.

In the meantime, I've been watching the kids (goes without saying).  I've done a ton of laundry (mountain doesn't even begin to describe it). I did the dishes. I ran and unloaded the dishwasher. I made a grocery list. We went grocery shopping. I packed Nathan's stuff for school tomorrow. Heck, I even managed to look at the ads and enjoy a cup of coffee!  All of this before 3pm!!  Phew.  You do this everyday, so I am sure you are used to it. But I'm not. And actually, I'm pretty proud of it!!!

Challenge

I've recently decided that every situation in life is reminiscent of a kids book, movie or show. Today's (ok, yesterday's and today's) book is Bernstein Bears "Sick Days": ..."and Mama Bear got to stay home from home for the day."

Ha!  I wish it were that simple!  I still managed to make a menu, grocery list, cut coupons, and I really need to do laundry. Too bad I can't do that from my chair!  Jon is on call tonight. I am praying he doesn't have to leave... I don't think I could handle all 3 kids myself while sick. Missy, I am not sure how you do it!

Ok, so here's the challenge: how many times in a day do you say, do, or sing something from our kids' world?

Push ups - OMG - I'm old.

So I can run.  I just ran 5 miles at 8 min pace, on snow and ice while talking to my running buddy - who ended up dying on our run.  I felt great - I actually think I could have gone faster.  ANYWAY, so I was put to a challenge to do 100 push ups every day in the month of March and oh man have I been sore!  It hurts to pick up my kids, it hurts to sneeze, it hurts to make dinner, paint, pet my dog…right, it really just hurts to do anything.  From my shoulders all the way through my abs.  OWIE!  So…how did it get this way?   Is it that I'm that old that I simply can't do 100 push ups in a day without being so sore the next day that I am practically crying?  By the way on day two I did most of my pushups on my knees because I never would have made it otherwise!  I watch my kids and they practically do 100 push ups in like an hour. They're not this sore.   Sigh.

So, newsflash, we're in our mid 30's, things are getting harder now and muscles are starting  to age.  I think I need to start doing more than just running and biking.  Weights, more yoga, 100 push ups a day and some ab work along with the running and the healthy eating - so…new goal!  I'm excited to incorporate more of this into my day.  I just did my second set of 50 pushups and I'm pretty sure my arms are going to fall off.  I hope by the end of this month that I'll still be doing 100 push ups a day - and I won't be sore and that I continue it into April as well.  Try it, Ann!  I promise you that you can find the two minutes to two sets of 50 twice/day and it will make you feel great.  Yesterday I did it in my cube at work.  This afternoon I was cold at home so I did pushups and it took care of that problem.  Ha.  Give it a try - let me know if you do and how you like it.

On top of it….finally!

After about three weeks of complete hell…alright, maybe it has been 4 weeks (eeerr, about 3 months) whatever, I'm finally getting organized and I feel good and I'm finally back to not drinking diet coke to stay awake anymore!!  Whoot!  Work, home, kids, me - its finally falling back in place, just when I thought it was never going to come back.  This week organization is coming back, everyone appears to be healthy and I'm ready for the weather to get a bit warmer so Wilson and I can get out running again in the morning but at least I can get out during the day.

On Saturday i made this menu!  Thats like five days earlier than I had been getting after it!  I ordered a box of organic veggies from my CSA farmer last week and got some great ones.  When there are fresh veggies in the house, everyone is happy.  So I made my menu off of that then Saturday morning and I had $62 dollars worth of coupons and discounts at Target too!  Proud Mamma!!

Here it is:

Monday:  Minestrone soup; using mostly CSA veggies and a few noodles.  This was great!!  Jaime told me over and over how much he loved it :)   If you guys eat soup, try this.  Its on my pinterest board called "favorite Meals".  It was so good, so healthy, delicious and pretty quick to make.

Tuesday:  This was supposed to be Turkey burgers but then I decided I wanted to go to Wine and Canvas tomorrow night so my kids are going to my sisters.  Sounds like Mac and Cheese, broccoli and apples for them.  Wine for me :)  Paul is going to have to eat leftovers or something.

Wednesday:  Brown Sugar and Garlic chicken in the crockpot and roasted broccoli.  Yum.

Thursday:  Broomball day and I have a babysitter coming - Turkey burgers with purple potatoes.

Friday:  Sweet Potato and Spinach pizza - this is a new one.  Sweet potato is the "sauce".  The spinach is supposed to be Kale but I used all of it when I made Kale chips over the weekend, hopefully the spinach does the same thing.   (BTW, if you haven't tried Kale chips, its on my pinterest board and my kids liked them.  We called them green chips, like purple chips, and they ate it.)

Have a great week, Ann!

Gotta hurry....

The girls slept over at their grandparents' last night and Jon went to pick them up.  So I am at home doing house stuff (dishes, laundry, etc.) with Nathan.  He's currently content on the floor, so I gotta hurry (now that I look at him he actually fell back asleep!  Nice!)...  Anyway, here's the menu.

Today - Superbowl/Superbirthdays dinner at my parents
Monday - Nathan's first day at daycare.  I don't think it will be too bad, but I want to have something easy so that we can cuddle when he gets home :-)  So we're going to try Cheddar Cheese Turnovers.  Sounds super easy!
Tuesday - Four Cheese Pasta with Peas and Ham
Wednesday - Homemade Hamburger Helper - Cheeseburger Macaroni
Thursday - Mexijita Chicken in the crockpot with Cilantro Rice- one of my favs we haven't had in a long time!
Friday - Leftovers or pizza
Saturday - DATE NIGHT!?!?!?

Have a great week!  Go Seattle!  Go Denver!  Oh, I don't care.  Bring on the commercials!

P.S.  I the time it took me to write this, Nathan woke up again.  He's hungry.  Gotta go!  Miss you Missy!

Rock Star!

You and I are not humble.  We are awesome and we aren't afraid to let everyone know it.  So, I will let you know that today I am a rock star!

Nathan has slept thru the night 3 nights in a row.  Maybe that has something to do with the burst of energy I've had today.

Jon's illing...  Other than snow blowing this morning, he has chilling been on his chair with a cold.  Meanwhile I've been breastfeeding a baby, did 4 loads of laundry, swept the floors, ran the dishwasher, emptied and refilled it, did the non-dishwasherable dishes, packed most of tomorrow's breakfasts, got my pump bag packed, fed the girls lunch, made this week's menu AND pulled dinners out of the freezer to thaw!  So here it is....

Sunday - It just doesn't matter to me.  Burgers?  Pancakes?  I don't care.
Monday - Pasta, GB and salad.
Tuesday - beef enchiladas and spanish rice
Wednesday - honey mustard pretzel chicken and i'd like to try to make smashed red potatoes...  We'll see.
Thursday - beef stroganoff and veggies.
Friday - leftovers
Saturday - pizza or other take out

Rock on!

Its been rough lately…

Do you know how much I hate law school?  I. HATE. IT!!! 

So, we're getting back into the swing of things with our last semester of law school ahead of us - its always rough in the beginning and we figure it out as the semester goes on.  Paul has class Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday nights and has a paper due every night at midnight.  So he comes home from class and writes a paper then we do it all over again the next day.  So he's pretty much checked out all week except a half a day on Saturdays AND I'm coming off of having the flu or food poisoning or something so there was no menu scheduled or even thought about for this week so we're really winging it which I hate.  I have been to Target every day this week for groceries during work and today I took the boys after work and we got a lot of stuff, which, I'll admit, is still not put away….sigh.

So this is what we ate so far this week and what we're going to eat.

Monday:  Meatloaf cupcakes

Tuesday:  Chili (johns choice for his birthday)

Tonight:  Deluxe Kraft Mac and Cheese (which I haven't made in years and I don't like anymore) and a brat cooked in the microwave?…yep, weird, and it wasn't very good and I'm mad that I wasted a meal on something I didn't like.

Thursday:  French Toast (its a broomball day)

Friday:  Chicken Parmesan Bundles.

Saturday: Birthday party with friends - someone else's kid,  dinner taken care of!

Sunday:  Johns family Birthday Party - I still have NO Idea what we are going to make for that and its 40 people.  Eeek!  Ordering pizza is my backup.  Ha!

Just Food…no Fun.

Back to the same old…Law school starts this week.  Paul has been studying all night and has class Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays and one class thats homework is going to take up Sat, Sun, Mondays………..crap.  Its fine, I can handle it because I am an organized, happy and energetic mom (about 75% anyway!)  A food plan helps and so does a trip to Costco over the past weekend…so here we go!

Monday:  Lemon Pepper Chicken, roasted sweet potatoes and roasted cabbage.  So the cabbage was new for us…Paul and I loved it, kids and dog wouldn't touch it.  If you like cabbage, try it sometime - cut it in quarters, make a sauce from Worcestershire, olive oil, salt and pepper to coat all over the cabbage and roast at 400 for like 30 min.  Its pretty good!

Tuesday:  Beef Tacos with shredded carrots, spinach, cheese and greek yogurt.

Wednesday:  Its Wine Wednesday, Jennie is making Sweet Potato cakes.  I'm bringing fresh pears and bread - That is easy.  I like this.

Thursday:  I have broomball so its always super busy.  Maybe I'll just order a pizza.

FRIDAY:  Gosh this sounds like a great day….I can't wait until Friday.  Parmesan Chicken with Roasted Brocolli.

Have a great week!!

Pork Roast with Sweet Potatoes, Apples and Onions

Pork Roast with Sweet Potatoes, Apples and Onions

• 2 1/2 pound pork roast (I tied mine, to better hold it’s shape) instructions here <-
• olive oil, salt and pepper
• 2-4 apples, quartered (I used small gala, so I used 4 apples but if you use a larger apple like pink lady or granny smith, I would only use 2)
• 2 sweet potatoes, cut into wedges
• 1 sweet onion, sliced
• 1/2 teaspoon sweet paprika
• 1/4 teaspoon cumin
• 1/4 teaspoon chili powder
• salt and pepper to taste
• olive oil ( about 1/4 cup) enough to coat

1. Preheat broiler to 500.
2. Rub pork with olive oil and season with salt and pepper.
3. Place on sheet tray and broil for 15 minutes, flipping half way through cooking time (to get nice color on meat).
4. Meanwhile, chop apples, sweet potatoes and onions. Toss in oil and spices.
5. Arrange on sheet tray around pork roast.
6. Turn oven to conventional at 450, and roast for 20-30 minutes,until apples and sweet potatoes are tender and meat reaches 120 degrees. This is a preference, most might say to cook to 140, but that is how you get dry pork. Allow the meat to rest at least 10 minutes before slicing and it will continue to cook and will be juicy! Return sliced pork and juices to the pan.
7. Serve sliced pork with sweet potatoes, apples, onions and a simple salad.

Orange rosemary chicken

http://www.pauladeen.com/recipes/recipe_view/slow_cooker_orange_rosemary_chicken/

Adventures of a chicken kind.

In anticipation of my return to work this week, I managed to get all of the laundry done, take down the Christmas decorations, clean the house, make a menu and go grocery shopping. Of course I had helpers of all ages, but we got it done!  It was a great weekend. Here is our menu.

Sunday - chili

Monday - spinach lasagna from the freezer

Tuesday - orange rosemary chicken

Wednesday - leftovers or out with the Millers

Thursday - Salisbury steak

Friday - leftovers?

Saturday - pizza

My first day back went smoothly.  No tears at daycare drop off, I remembered everything I needed, and the hours flew by. I came home, snuggled with my boy and then picked the girls up from school. Then, committed to stick to my menu, I set out to prepare tomorrow's dinner. Orange rosemary chicken in the crock pot. Just make it, heat it and eat it!  The recipe seemed easy enough.  The only problem: I have to work with a whole, raw chicken. Something new for me.  Shocking, I know.  In addition to my large learning curve, my eldest child wanted to help. How does one work with raw chicken and let a toddler help without contaminating everything??  I'm not sure how I managed to accomplish any of it, but the recipe was easy enough and it's set and ready to go.  It's a Paula Deen recipe and there's lots of butter, so it will probably taste amazing!  Next hurdle: getting the littles to eat it. 

Have a good one!!

Preschool Lunch ideas - I couldnt pass posting this for us.

http://paintingsunny.com/2013/08/30/the-school-lunch-round-up-end-of-summer-fast-approaching/