What’s for dinner?

Now I am not sure if you all struggle with this too…what is for dinner…well i used to fly by the seat of my pants. But when I did that I seemed to have the same thing over and over again or order out….since school has started I decieded to write a menu. I have to say it has worked well but now that i have done this for three weeks or so, I am out of ideas.

It helps that i write the menu on a dry erase board that goes on the fridge. Then the kids can look on the board to see what is for dinner. I have been asking them what they want for dinner, even got a kid cook book so they could help make the meals….

on the menu this week we have “lazy day lasagna”, one skillet chicken, turkey burgers, creamy baked chicken, fish (what ever looks good at the fish market tomorrow), shepards pie….and then we have veggies, brocc., beans, squash and salad.

so what do other people have for dinner?

No excuses

Okay i have gotten over the first hump, I actually went to the gym. Then I took a day off, lets face it, i do not want to rush into this!!!

Today was a crazy day. My whaling slide show was awesome! The day went on. Then after work i was so tired, i sat in my office thinking I am way to tired to go to the gym. I had walked around all day and even threw the harpoon! Love the harpoon!

Well i procrastinate as long as i could and then had an excuse that it was to late to go. I needed to get home to the kids. Babysitter is only scheduled to be here until 6pm. So it was about 5 pm and thought by the time i leave it will be to late to go to the gym and get home. I talked on the phone to a friend and then decieded since i was sitting in the parking lot i needed to call the babysitter to see if i could be 15 min late. I called her, we chatted, she was so excited to tell me all her homework was done. SO then i asked if i could be late. She said of course! No problem! Great no excuse on why i could not go to the gym.

I turned off the car, got out and spent a half hour at the gym! It feels good. I think small changes in life instead of changing everything at once. Then i can stick to healthy changes….

i can do this!

wish me luck!

Summer pictures and good friends

So we went to the Mystic Aquarium earlier this summer…here are a few pictures from that trip. I was trying to be cool with the camera. I hope you enjoy them.

i had a call from a really cool and dear friend of mine tonight. I have been quite wordy lately and have not been posting pictures. Well I am going to work on posting a few more each week. I miss my friend dearly, we live an hour apart yet it sometimes seems as if she is a million miles away. i miss her deeply. you know the kind of friend i am talking about? the one who you might not call for days, weeks sadly even months. and then when you get to talk to them, it is as if time had stood still, you pick up where you left off! I love that…. our lives move at a very quick pace, and since i moved here away from her we do not get to speak as often. She is a friend that tells you how it is. She will put the mirror in front of your face as ask you to take a good look. she is unconditional. she will like me no matter what. she is a dear friend. i miss her. be well my friend and let it not be weeks or months we speak. i have given a small window to my world, i do hope you are able to read it and enjoy it. perhaps this is the bridge that links us…. leave me comments

Enjoy

It’s a sign…..

So, did you know i was a shy person? I am. So i have been marinating on the idea of going to the gym. You know all the cool kids do it. But i am shy. nervous. i know so unlike me but you know, all summer i have been thinking i need to go to the gym. Then I got my new job, my doctor said to me i was to stressed out and i needed to do something about that. I went on to tell him you know i have this new job and i am going to go to the gym. Well i have been giving excuses everyday, i had to work later, or not tonight i should get home to the kids or i have nothing to wear or what will people think i hate when a gym is crowded.

today the school group left at 1:00pm and i had been pysching myself up for this. I was determined to at least go check it out. I looked on line for the local gyms, the good old stand by the YMCA and then this cycling gym and then, Mystic muscle and fitness.

Mystic muscle and fitness was were i went to get info. I talked to the guy, a bit intimidated but he was nice. No one was in the gym so I left. I drove home, thinking I can do this. I went back and forth, what do i wear, do i go today, do i sign up today, do i go tomorrow, who can i get to come with me….oh the questions….

I get home, okay i am ready to do this, now i just need to find some shorts and a t-shirt. I look in the laundry, no shorts, hmmm must be a sign, I am not going. Walk around some more, trip over my sneakers, oh god a sign, i have to go. Just do it. alright, look for the shorts, found them. Ready to go, just doing it. Call a friend for moral support and to see if i can convince her to come with me. Nope she wouldnt go. Crap another sign dont go. No no I am going, i am going to stop at work pick up my iPod and then i am going. get to work, angry red message light is on, it is a sign. listen to messages call people back, getting later, i am not going, i will do it tomorrow. Friend calls back tells me to just do it and i will feel great!

I talk to her all the way to the gym. I go in, I worked out for a half hour. I did it! I feel great! I cannot wait to do it again. The guy at the gym tol

Check her out

Okay so tonight at dinner, we did our usual go around the table tell me some good things and one bad thing about your day. They have to usual, I played with my friends, I was first at lunch and got the good grilled cheese or I had gym that is the best….you get the picture.

Well Nathaniel’s teacher has been out until today. A family situation. Okay. So I said, “how did she check out” Meaning how did she do? My boys were a little confused. So I said, “did you check her out ? How did she do?”

My boys were rolling on the floor. What did I say that they could think was so funny. Well after the fits of laughter on the floor, Jordan said, “Mommy you said did you check her out? Like when a boy looks a girl you know” his eyes wide open, looking up and down…. and Nathaniel, whistles like a cat call. Laughter continues….oh my goodness. I tried to recover, but now I was laughing so much and trying to say something.

Where do they learn this. Why are my children explaining to me these things? where did those innocent days go? Checking girls out. My boys know what that mean. Oh the trouble I am in…. I am not ready for this….

Mommy you made a mistake

Okay so the day went as usual. Get up, dress kids, shower, feed everyone and off to the bus stop. My dad stopped by to see the kids off to the bus with. I love that time with my dad. He comes about 20 min. or so before the bus comes, some mornings he is a god send as i am running late and some mornings it is nice to watch the kids run around and we chat about this and that.

So in chatting i said, “Jordan has back to school night tonight, what are you and mom doing” He assured me one of them could watch the twins while i take Jordan to Back to school night. (back to school night, is when the invite all the parents to walk around the school after a long day at work with hundreds of children demanding their teachers attention. Then the feed them ice cream. Torture)

So off to work I go. Thinking i need to call my mom and firm up if she can come. I struggle with if the twins should go or not. Jordan needs his special time but at the same time he needs to remember he is one of three in this family. Sometimes i think he would have been happy being a singleton. (remember he is one of 16 in his biological family, he is number 10)

Work is a bit nutty, schools coming, teachers demanding, catalog dates for the whole next year have to go out. Oh NO it is 300pm i still had not called my mom. She agrees Jordan needs to be the star and show off his school and class and so on. It is set. She will pick up the twins and I am taking Jordan. Tell babysitter. all is set.

Jordan calls my cell phone. “Mommy I think you made a mistake”

WHAT? a mistake? what do you mean?

Jordan goes on to ask why Raymond and Nathaniel get to go to Nana and grandpas and he has to stay home. I very proudly tell him so we can go to back to school night. Mommy you made a mistake! That is next Monday.

He was right. I made a mistake.

Sunday Sunday

Hey, well I was so tired the other day I actually wrote about meetings and then did not publish it. So sorry. I can see there have been people coming lurking but there was nothing new.

Well the weekend was like every other weekend. clean. laundry. chase children. A friend and I went to Home Depot as there are a few things around the house i need to get fixed. The kids loved the open space to run in, so the RULES were laid down. The RULES are you must put you hands in your pockets unless you are asked to carry something. It works for the most part, but when you are in the door lock area trying to figure out which one is going to be the easiest to install, trying to remember what color the door handle is, this gets a little tricky. So last resort comes out, bribery!

I see bribery as a last last last resort. I think having a friend with me, and feeling their stress in three little boys demanding your attention and running around with their hands in their pockets got to me. So bribery, it only works if you use it every so often. Thank heavens it still works! So the deal was, the better they behaved and if I did not have to speak to them, we would rent a movie. Eyes popped, “WHAT REALLY, A MOVIE?” I never rent movies, my blockbuster card still has my parents address as my current address and I have not lived there for over 12 years.

We made it out of Home Depot with the lock and a mop and some other things I just said yes to. Rented The Last Mimsey, it was great!

I even rented a movie for myself, hopefully I will watch it tonight. Running with Scissors. Has anyone seen it??

Every Saturday night, I always like to look over the week before at POSTSECRET, see what kind of comments were left during the week. I then leave it up on the computer so I can check it in the morning. To my dismay it was not there! Oh my goodness, this is wrong! Apparently, blogger has robots checking websites to see if they are spam sites, and the robots deemed it a spam site. Now it is locked out. Interesting huh?

Well off I go to make a menu for the week! Now the question is what to cook this week?

Meetings

Hey so i have been super busy. One program started, then i have been meeting with new people then everyone wants to “have a meeting”, Crazy!

It is like, “have your people call my people!” funny.

I would hear people would say, “Oh i am late for a meeting, or I have a meeting I have got to go”"I have been in meetings all day” I always was envious of this, thinking wow they must be having fun at these meetings or why else would they have them right?

Well lets just say, I am not so sure i was cut out for “meetings”. I suppose this will come in time right?

I am learning, I do not think some of the meetings i have gone were much fun until I got there. I need a little laugh every now and then. So i am good for a joke or two to break it up!

Have your people call my people and lets have a meeting.

Can you tell I was in a meeting which seemed to be all day?

Missing teeth and girls calling

Okay so it was a rainy day today. Never good when i can not go out to play. I did however walk over to Mike’s office to say hey and get a twizzler. Did you know it was buy one get one freeat CVS??!! Mike only had one bag though….Hmmm…

Well I came home to the boys….they were playing SORRY.

Now I am not a fan of loose teeth or teeth that are not in your head. I need some chemical help and a lot of prep time just to get myself to the dentist. It took 9 years for me to go back. It has been two years and I am still not ready. ohh the stress….

Enough about that I am feeling a little nervous … Anyway Raymond very proudly pulled out this wad of paper towel, and sure enough there was a little tooth in there. Alls i could think of was the tooth fairy is in strike. Of course my kids think this is hysterical that i can not stand teeth. So of course they all get in their shots, showing me their tooth, making me hold it and making me look at the empty spot. oh so gross..Now i will play in the dirt, I will hike in the woods not shower, I can handle blood but teeth and puke are two things I know I cannot handle!

So now this little piece of tooth is under his pillow and he expects the “tooth fairy” to reach under and leave him money. OMG the thought of me putting my hand under his pillow and searching around for this tooth just make me nervous.

Now the girls calling….OMG my little Raymond has a little girl that has called him. Yup! What is going on? He is 7 years old. This little girl wanted to call and talk. Well his brothers think this is hysterical! Rolling on the floor, teasing him that he has a girl friend! He very firmly says, she is a girl and she is a friend. I think he was brought to tears.

She called while i was making dinner and i wanted to hear what he said to her. The idle “yeah” “what are you doing” “why are you calling” then it was “can we talk about this on the bus?” pause…then a quick…”okay, bye”

He hands me the phone and said, “I am done, we are going to talk on the bus” He ran away. I was in so much shock, I tried calling my mom to see what to do. No luck. My friend told me this is just the start….I have three boys and the girls realize their are boys before the boys realize their are girls. I am in so much trouble…..

Missing teeth and girls calling….

UPDATE

I was so freaked by the loose tooth swimming around under his pillow I made him put it in a neon envelope so that the “tooth fairy” can find it. He was pretty insistent that the tooth fairy had a magic wand and she could find anything. I told him I knew her personally and she needed the envelope. At least i do not have to touch it again.

Record Players

So I have to say getting back into the routine of school has been great! The boys now are coming home on the bus. They have a very nice babysitter. They play outside, get a little snack and she helps with homework! Yeah!

now you have to understand that after school they would go to the COMO and play, they were out of control sometimes. Then having to transition home from the COMO was tough.

Now I come home, to them playing. It is wonderful. Homework gets done. All within an hour and half! Good times! Dinner! A friend came over for dinner, we all talked about our days . It was nice.

After dinner, (homemade chicken ceasar salad with garlic bread, YUMM favorite meal) we all sat down to listen to a capter of Harry Potter, book 5.

A little background on this…..when Harry Potter came out, I just did not understand what the big deal was. It was a kids book. Well then this christmas Jordan got the first book. So I decieded that I would read it out loud to the kids. One of my favorite memories was my dad reading The Borrower’s to me when I was a kid. So I was hoping that my boy will remember me reading to them. Now I have been known to read ahead as I just cannot wait to find out what is going to happen. I try not to get ahead to much.
We have read the last four books since Christmas. Now this summer we did not read as we all went in different directions. Plus the kids were allowed to watch TV or we went to the beach for dinner and just never made it home in time to read.

After my friend read the first chapter of book 5 all the boys had to read for 15 minutes. My friend took Raymond, he is the champ! Jordan reads on his own! Nathaniel needs a bit more help. In the book we read, it talked about a record and a record player. We had to stop the story so I could explain to him what the was.

I could not believe he did not know what it was. I suppose he has never seen one or would even know what it was. I still do not think he knows what it is. I remember listening to my dad’s record player. I remember listening to the Beatles record with the green apple on it, when John Lennon was shot. Wow how times have changed. I wonder if he will have to explain to his children what a CD is. I am sure he has not seen a cassette or cassette player.

How times change.  I am feeling old.