Finding something edible

It's been an on and off week for me lately as far as cooking goes. Once Grandma Weaver's left-overs ran out, so did the good food. On Tuesday I decided to go with something that I knew Micaela would eat - Tuna Helper. She loves tuna fish, plain tuna fish, no mayo or dressing or anything- weird kid, huh? She liked the tuna helper (she actually gave me a high-five), but I wasn't up to making a vegetable, so that goes down in our unhealthy catergory. On Wednesday I realized I had a ton of vegetables and that I needed to make up for Tuesday's meal, so I consulted with Kurt and made homemade vegetable soup. I made it early and had some for lunch and it was decent, whether or not Micaela would agree was doubtful. As soon as I picked Micaela up from daycare I warned her - "tonight we are having chicken and also vegetable soup and you WILL eat all your soup and you WILL NOT complain, got it?" We got home and I heated everything up and she stirred the soup around for a little bit asking what everything was and then she took a pretty big spoonful. "Hmmm, not bad. High-five mom!" I actually got a high-five for vegetable soup, definitely a weird kid. It took a little pushing to get her to actually eat the whole bowl, but she did. Definitely healthy. Tonight we regressed. I dropped her off at 7am this morning (an hour before usual) and picked her up at 6pm (an hour after usual). It was just a long and boring (but busy) day. Having no energy I told her that we could go out to eat and of course she picked McDonalds. I can see why it's so addicting, and I'm not just talking about the fatty foods being addicting, but the convenience and the easy cleanup. I picked her up at 6 and we had eaten and cleaned up by 6:30 - a record seeing as how she is a very slow eater. Now it's 6:45 and I have to get on with the normal quick clean of the house and prep for tomorrow. Thank goodness Kurt is coming home tonight or else tomorrow we would be eating microwavable __________ (insert favorite food).

Another week

Well, I didn't get a chance to blog much last week because it was actually pretty busy. Kurt finally came home and all of a sudden our social calendar was filled. He left today for Drill up in PA, so now it's back to watching TV. Funny how opposites attract. I realized that we are also opposites when it comes to cleaning. I was looking forward to Kurt coming home, in part because I was thinking that he would help out with cleaning the house while I was at work. I forgot that Kurt is very similar to Dad in that when he cleans, he'll tear one room apart and spend all day dusting that room and it will be spotless. Meanwhile, the dishes will still be in the sink and the laundry will be piling up. I guess I'm more like Mom, in that having a room look clean is good enough for me. You can get a lot more done that way. I'm glad we're different, but now Kurt is gone again and I still have a house to put back together. Thankfully the Weavers are in town. Sharon is a superstar when it comes to cooking, doing dishes, and laundry. Within 24 hours all of our laundry was washed and folded, I just have to put it away (something I'm not very good at). And at least I know Micaela will eat well until they leave on Monday (I'm getting there).

Success!!!!!

On Monday we got home from a quick, but fun, trip to PA (see Mari's blog). On Tuesday, we needed to go grocery shopping (Micaela and I are still on our own). Being the genius that I am, I broke out my new "Don't Know How to Cook" cookbooks and starting skimming through looking for dinner ideas. My plan for yesterday was chicken enchiladas, but we couldn't find enchilada sauce, so chicken quesadillas had to do. I didn't flavor the chicken, so it was a little bland, but edible. Today I made something called Meat and Noodles and it was great! The steak cubes were supposed to be baked with cream of mushroom soup and onion soup mix for 3 hours, but I wasn't waiting that long so I browned them in a pan first and then baked for 30 minutes. It turned out really yummy. I even got Micaela's stamp of approval (just don't tell her there were mushrooms and onions in the gravy, she hates those). For a veggie I steamed some broccoli and put cheese on top. Micaela didn't want to eat the broccoli, so she started gagging. This works on Kurt because he has some bad childhood memory involving brussels sprouts, but it didn't work on me. I told her that if she threw up the broccoli I was just going to make her some more. Funny how the rest didn't make her gag. I'm turning into Mom... :) For our drinks we had milk and for dessert we had pineapple and watermelon. Pretty good, huh? What I'm not telling you is that for lunch Micaela "didn't have time" for her healthy stuff and just ate her cheeze-its and fruit snacks. All in all, I say we came out even. We'll see how tomorrow goes.

Single Mom

If Kurt gets deployed again, I'll kill him. Micaela and I have managed to figure out a workable schedule and we are getting everything done (everything being the essentials) by 8pm so that we can go to bed and get up at 6:30. We are very efficient, but it is not very fun. I just feel pooped at the end of the day after work and then 3 hours of "do your homework, fix this math problem, do that, answering all the "mom..." questions, etc. I feel like a Drill Sergeant / Magic 8 Ball. I can only imagine what it will be like with two. I'm in trouble. I finally understand mom's craving for adult conversation. Thank goodness Mari is pretty good at talking about nothing.... DANG!! I had written a whole bunch more (talking about all the good things too) and then I accidentally erased it and there is no undo button. I give up. I'm going to bed.