Decisions, Consequences and Family

I recently had a big decision to make. I made it, and now I have paid by losing 2 people I love and who I thought loved me. Life sucks, but I cannot spend all my time thinking about it. What's done is done. It will not be undone. I have forgiven them for how they treated me, but apparently they cannot forgive me for my choices. Something was given to me and I was expected to share it with someone who had no ties to where it came from, save from a marriage. Now I don't really give a damn about me, but the son and the daughter are affected more. They don't know it, but I do, and it really pisses me off! It has gotten progressively worse in the last 3 years, and I think it is finally over. I am moving on. In the words of Dr. Suess -

“Be who you are and say what you feel because

those who mind don't matter

and those who matter don't mind.”

Tastes from Home with Frito-Lay recipe contest

I don't endorse a company in any way, unless I believe in their products. Frito Lay has NEVER let me down!
My Dad was in the Air Force for 24 years. At one point we were stationed in Tucson, AZ at Davis Monthan AFB. I was a small child, and to this day, I still am greatly impressed by that region and it's food. I LOVE Mexican inspired dishes. Lay's Cajun Herb & Spice chips are the perfect accompaniment to my spinach and cheese enchiladas. Please enjoy my recipe:

Easy Spinach Enchiladas

Red Sauce
1 can tomato sauce +1 can water
2 TBSP chili powder
1 Tsp each cumin, garlic, onion powder and cilantro
Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for around 30 minutes

Thaw frozen spinach in microwave

Heat one can refried beans with 1/4 cup cheddar cheese and 1/4 fat free half and half, mix thoroughly.

Use large tortillas. Spread enough sauce to cover the bottom of a large glass baking dish. Fill tortillas with beans, rice, spinach and cheese (spread a little sauce on the tortilla first if you like them really saucy), roll and place in pan. Cover the rolled tortillas with the remaining sauce and shake it down in between each roll. Sprinkle with desired amount of cheese and bake at 400 degrees for around 20 minutes. Let set for around 15 minutes once removed from the oven. ENJOY! Next time, we will have to try the Creamy Garden Ranch!

Now it's your turn. Submit your favorite recipe to me. Inspired by your region, or Lay's new Regional Flavors. You could a variety pack of the Regional Flavors. :O)

I Used to Have Patience, Now I Have Kids!

Well, guess I didn't realize how long it had been since I had last posted! Sheesh! A lot happens and a lot changes in 6 months time. So, in a brief, yet thorough account, here is my life since September 23rd.

The party was fun. Only 8 kids came...yay me...and they had a ball. One of the daughter's little friends, however, doesn't like chocolate, so that presented a dilemma with the brownie. Oh well, I will remember next time...if there is a next time, to have white cake as well...oh, and separate containers of vanilla and chocolate ice cream with separate scoops...God forbid there is one speck of chocolate in the vanilla ice cream! Okay, sweet kid, but sheesh. Then there were the 3 parents who decided to drop off their kids without telling me they were doing so. Get the kid out, give them a kiss, tell them to be good, get back in the mini van and take off...WTH?! One mother, ONE, asked me if it was okay, and then there was the couple that also brought their baby and actually stayed to watch their kid have fun. THOSE kind of parents I like. Them and the mom who was trying to pack for a trip, and very nicely asked if it would be okay if she went home to work on it. Party survived...barely. 6 year olds really know how to scream!

The son, who is now 3 1/2, is now going to speech. The once near silent little boy, is now talking up a storm. Can't understand a lot of what he says still, but he's talking! Now we are working on potty training. Okay, I admit it, I have been lazy in this department. But, in my defense, I have also listened to these laid back parents who say "Let him tell you when he is ready". Well, let me tell you something...Ain't gonna happen!!! This kid can poop in his sleep. He will walk around in a soaking wet diaper, and pants, until you notice and he says "I peeya". He is an eager learner in the speech department, can recite shapes and colors now, wants very badly to know his letters and learn to read, but....oh ho ho, and this is a BIG but...refuses to go to the potty. I tried, in vain, yesterday. Underwear all day...all 10 pair...he peed in the potty, at my urging, 4 times. I tried the every hour approach, and kept catching him going into his sister's room to hide and pee. Probably because she has a tv in her room, and he can watch cartoons while hiding. sigh...

The daughter is going to be one of those kids. The kind that hate snow days. The kind that go into hysterics when they don't get all A's on their report cards. God forbid they mess up at school every once in a while. Home, on the other hand...The kid loves to make a mess, but is always "too tired" when it's time to clean it up. That, or she blames the entire mess on her brother, and says she is going to pick up just her stuff, and he needs to get the rest. She's 6 1/2, and already has the attitude of a 13 year old. I am in peri-menopause, and here is my wish...more like a prayer...please let me finish menopause before she hits 13!!! Okay, what would normally be good traits, do not work well in the way she uses them. Hopefully we will hone those skills and direct them for good! She will not back down for anything! If she doesn't get her way, she goes on and on and on and on and on....hoping to wear you down until you give in. She whines, she cries, she speaks through clenched teeth (okay, so she got this one from me. Hey, I don't like to yell!). She bumps me, and sometimes she hits. I walk off, and sometimes, go as far as locking myself in my bedroom. Funniest thing she has said in one of these tirades..."No, you go to your room!". To which I replied "I would love to!". sigh...how does that saying go? "This too shall pass."? I can dream, can't I?!

I have never professed to be a "writer". I just write down my thoughts and experiences from life. It's like talking to a friend. Write what you feel, write what you know. I may be able to write a whole book one day, but it will be of my experiences. I read a mystery story that I had found in a box of things, that I had to write in high school, and let me tell you...it was B.A.D.! So, I won't ever torture anyone with my ideas, just my experiences. And, maybe, just maybe, you might get as much enjoyment out of them as I do.

Birthday Parties

It started out simple...Scooby Doo as the theme. Shouldn't be hard to find Scooby Doo stuff. HA! Only one store in town with Scooby Doo party items. Plain napkins, plain plates, plain tablecloth, plain cups - $20 saved! The cake...done it before. Iced and ready. Balloons blown up by Mommy, the old fashioned way. Goody bags done. Menu planned. KoolAid and drinks ready. Games planned. Which took a little more thought and planning than I originally conceived. Will have to finish in the morning.

The morning of the party...wake up...WTH?!!! The room is spinning and will not stop. Try to walk down the hall, and lean into the wall the whole way. Move too much = lose cookies. Crap...vertigo! I was stressing out more than I thought trying to plan the "perfect" party for a bunch of 5 and 6 year olds! OMG! I have become one of "those" mothers. The kind that has to try to out-do everyone else. The kind that wants everything to run smoothly and cleanly. HA! No such thing sister! So, party rescheduled...invited 22 kids instead of 10...am I insane. Nope, it's the start of the fall break week, so some will be going out of town. ;) Smart after all. Everything is ready, but the cake. Make that BROWNIE! A giant pumpkin shaped brownie with orange icing and Halloween sprinkles because we are doing a costume birthday party. The balloons are still blown up, so all I have to do is make a costume for the son (the daughter's was bought on clearance at WM last year), do the brownie/cake and decorate for Halloween (which I do anyway). No more stress, no silly Mommy. I think I will sleep sitting up...just in case! Just have to keep the family well until next Saturday!

See, I told you I was crazy!

Summer, where have you gone?

I can't believe that my baby girl starts first grade in just a little over a week! That coupled with the fact that I am faced with the daunting task of potty training her near 3yo brother, which will probably prove to be easier than getting him to talk! I faced this same issue with the daughter, although, she was talking by this point. One day she just walked up to me, and said "want milk". Were it only true for the son!

His favorite word of choice at the moment is "Unh unh." He says this one quite a few times a day. Especially when I am trying to get him to say other words. He says "Mom", "Mama", "Dada", "Pop", "ba ba" (which is all-purpose for thank you, bye bye and good night), and "KaKa" which is his version of his sister's nickname. I have told her that "caca" is Spanish for "poop", which of course rather than take offense, she finds hilarious. I have him pronouncing letter sounds, now I just need to get him to put them together and say actual words. Any input would be greatly appreciated. Personally, I don't think there is anything wrong developmentally. I think he's just stubborn and lazy. He thinks too much...I can see the wheels turning. He plots. He looks me straight in the eyes as he is doing something he isn't supposed to do. Such as dumping a whole bucket of legos in the floor because I turned off all the lights he just turned on. He started walking at 9 months, this after crawling up steps at 6 months, and only crawling for around 2 weeks. He was Super Baby! He knows all kinds of animal sounds. His favorite of late seems to be the high pitched screech of a chimpanzee (and no, I didn't mean for that to rhyme, but I'll take it). Hey, he may not be talking, but he learns fast. Yesterday, he attempted to get the gallon jug of KoolAid out of the fridge. He had done this the night before, and left a trail from the kitchen into the dining room. Yesterday, however, he spilled a little, sat the jug down in front of the fridge, got my wet jet and mopped it up. Good boy!
The soon to be 6yo daughter believes that she will hate 1st grade. She is going to be really good at writing pros vs. cons essays! She says she wants to be a chef when she grows up. I still contend that she would make a darned good lawyer (insert uncontrolled shiver). Typical for children, and adults, fear of the unknown. We, as humans, fear change. We can't control it, so we don't like it. She is afraid her new teacher will be mean. She doesn't want to lose her "free choice" time. I sort of quashed this fear by telling her that first graders probably get more computer time anyway. I also told her that she would get to see her friends. For some reason, she believes that none of them will be in her class. They are taking 5 classes of 20 kindergartners and compressing them into 4 classes of 25 first graders. True, she may not have any of her friends in her class, but I don't think they would do that. I also try to tell her that she is more ready than she thinks. She has issue with math (which they started in K!), but she will do fine. She already knows almost all of her sight words for next year. My fear is, besides the math, she will be bored in class. Only time will tell. I just hope we don't start the first day of first grade as we did kindergarten. Her screaming and crying, and me crying once I made it back to the car.
They do grow up fast, and I am not trying to rush them by any means. I just want to teach them what I can. Impart on them the wisdom of what I have learned from my experiences and my mistakes. Ready them for the world, which is a much scarier place than when my husband and I were kids. Sure, I want to keep them for me for as long as I can. I want to avoid the looks of "Mom, you're embarrassing me!" for as long as possible. Yet, I also want them to grow, become independent, form their own ideals and ideas. Ahhh, the conundrum of Motherhood. I love every minute!

Home Improvements and Customer Service???

I may be...ahem, "Old School", but when someone says they are going to do a job for you, shouldn't they actually do the job?! Must be nice to work for an hour and a half, leave ladders against my house, the pieces that you have removed from my house and then leave for the day. Must be nice to turn your cell phone off, so I can't call you. Must be nice to be the secretary that leaves 15 minutes after I call in a complaint, because the office closes at 4:30 and she can't get in touch with "the guy" either. I am sick and tired of all this crap! The roofers did what they said they would do...the came early in the morning, got the job done and left (my only problem is they missed some nails...how 'bout getting a metal detector guys). The carpet guys came early and left late...it was an inconvenience, but they didn't charge me for moving furniture or removing our old carpet, so I can deal. The A/C job, that was supposed to take 1 day, maybe 2, turned into 3. They worked for an hour, left because there wasn't anything else they could do (they had planned on removing our old unit and hooking up the new one - which would have left us without air for the night!), they didn't bring everything they needed! WTH?! Now, here we sit...soffit and facia removed from our house, 4 ladders (for a 2-man crew mind you) sitting against the side of our house - temptation for the 4 small children running around, and workmen who leave after an hour and a half of work. Am I wrong when I say - IF YOU HAVE A JOB TO DO, THEN DO IT!!! All I know is, they better get done soon, they had better clean up EVERYTHING and it had better looked damned good! That, or the owner will have one small but angry woman in his face. Nobody wants to see this mouse roar.

Summer Vacation (?)

Why is it called "Summer Vacation" or "Summer Break"? The daughter may be on a vacation, but Mommy sure isn't! True, I have gotten my mornings back for a few weeks of bliss. An hour or two to myself to read, drink coffee and just plain chill out. The rest of the day I am stopping squabbles, and plain ol' knock-downs between the daughter and the son. She, who will be 6 in less than 3 months, and he will be 3 (10 days later). She, who has the will of a 16 yo and a mouth to match. What happened to my sweet baby girl?! True, there is fun to fill the summer days as well - swimming, slip n' sliding, the park, the library (which we have yet to visit since her week-long hospital stay for pneumonia 18 months ago). We have been to the zoo twice (membership long since paid for thank you very much) and to Build a Bear. Then I realized that I miscalculated, and rather than 5 more weeks, there are 7. So, should I look at it positively...7 more weeks of not rushing around to get the daughter to school on time, 7 more weeks of quiet mornings to myself, 7 more weeks of playing in the sun...or, what was I thinking about? True, they are loud, she has an attitude the size of Texas, they fuss, they fight, they whine, they complain, but would I really want it any other way. Life before kids seemed fun and relaxing. Life after kids...definitely more fun, relaxing??? not really, and it never will be, even when they are gone I won't relax! Saw a quote recently that I just love "When life throws you lemons, throw them back and demand chocolate!" There are no lemons when it comes to kids, just hiccups in the road of life. A few bumps along the way - illnesses, tears, broken dreams, unfulfilled wishes, late nights of worrying. The best things in life are not from a straight and narrow, perfectly smooth road. Lessons are learned, demons are exorcised. The daughter graduated from kindergarten - yes, I almost cried. She starts first grade in 7 weeks, and the son will follow in 2 years. I turn 42 next month, so no more babies for me. I am enjoying every free moment I have with both of them, until I return to work when the son starts kindergarten. I so hope to find a part time job when that happens, so I can continue to spend time with them. Sure, we need money, everyone does, but some things are more important. Hearing the daughter read a book to herself, seeing both kids blossom and grow into their own individuals, watching them peacefully sleeping, waiting very patiently for the son to talk (soon I hope!), seeing the joy and pride on his face when he uses the potty (:D). Yup, money can buy things that may or may not make us happy, but kids...kids are the ultimate happiness. I appreciate everything I have, and everything I have been given, especially the opportunity to be a stay at home Mom - no matter how temporary. Life is short, enjoy it while you can. Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, today is a gift! I have rambled long enough. L8TR!