13 posts tagged “holidays”
Today is a school holiday for Steve and Simon. I like having them home to keep me company, but I'm really glad that Simon is home because he woke up not feeling well. He had a cough this morning, and has been listless all day. We've been watching "The Presidents" on The History Channel, and Simon is sound asleep on the sofa. Actually, Linus is asleep on his doggy sofa, and the cats are sound asleep on our bed. I've been a lazy bum all day, but I haven't actually gotten in any shuteye.
We went to Costco last night, and I picked up a cookbook and a book on organic gardening. I flipped through the gardening book, but it's mostly a reference of organic solutions for gardening problems I'm not currently experiencing. It's actually a compilation of Rodale's All-New Encyclopedia of Organic Gardening and The Organic Gardener's Handbook of Natural Insect and Disease Control. I think it'll come in handy later, but for now I'm all engrossed in my new cookbook.
The cookbook I got was How to Cook Everything: Vegetarian by Mark Bittman. They also had his older (omnivorous) How to Cook Everything, so I had decide which one I wanted. Since my ultimate goal is to eat less meat, I decided to get the veggie version. I haven't looked at the non-veggie version, but I'm not at all disappointed with the one I got.
I spent a good portion of my lazy day coming up with a menu and grocery list to get us through to next Tuesday.
So far I've got the following:
- chicken and dumplings (I still have the stuff from the other day.)
- stir fried leek dumpling with miso carrot sauce with ginger and salad greens
- stir fried tofu with fried rice
- white bean and mushroom ragu with polenta
- homemade pizza
- either salmon or scallops with risotto and sauteed spinach & mushrooms
- edamame stew with couscous
- Chicago Diner burgers with sweet potato fries and salad
- seitan "chops" with sides of some sort
We'll see if that's what we wind up having.
I was just thinking about what treat I would make Steve and Simon for Valentine's Day. I'm thinking seriously about trying my hand at homemade marshmallows this year. (I might talk myself out of it, but right now it seems like a good idea.)
Last year I made Reece's Squares, and they were a big hit. I was telling a friend about them earlier, so I thought I'd post the recipe.
Reece's Squares
1 1/2 cups crushed graham cracker crumbs
16 oz confectioners sugar
1 1/2 cups peanut butter
1 cup butter, melted
1 (12 oz) bag chocolate chips
- Combine sugar, peanut butter and graham cracker crumbs. Mix well.
- Stir in melted butter until well combined.
- Press mixture evenly into a 9x13 pan.
- Melt chocolate chips in the microwave or in a double boiler.
- Spread over peanut butter layer.
- Chill until firm and cut into bars.
I couldn't let Pancake Tuesday pass without remark, since my very blog is named in this saint's honor! ;)
Actually, I'm not even making pancakes today. I overslept this morning, so poor Simon had a cereal bar for breakfast. They are serving pancakes at our church tonight though. Steve will be running late to get over there from work, so he won't have time to swing by and pick me up. He's going to try to get Simon over there early enough to get some pancakes, but Steve'll have to get right to work on setting things up for children's choir. That should be done by 6:30 so I'm planning to have dinner ready at 7:00 tonight. I'm not making pancakes for dinner though. I have stuff in the fridge that needs to be used before it turns south, so I'm finally making the Parmesan Crusted Chicken topped with lemon dressed greens and broccoli and bow ties on the side. I'm actually glad I'm making it today. It's lemony, and kind of springy, so it'll be good for today since it's kind of warm and springy outside today. (It's only 9:00 am, and it's already 56 degrees.)
I can't believe how warm it is outside! We actually had thunderstorms last night. It's obnoxiously humid, but I'm still considering opening the windows and airing out the house this afternoon if we get above 60. It seems so springlike, that I'm actually feeling motivated to get some stuff done around the house! (And no, I'm not nesting. Flo is officially visiting. I'm sending Steve to pick up my Clomid this afternoon.)
This house is a disaster area right now. It started when I spent more time over at my mom's house cleaning everything out, and I've never caught up. It is truly driving me nuts having my house this messy, but I've been feeling overwhelmed. (I'm sure the hormone roller coaster that I've been no hasn't helped.) I've actually had days when I just sat here because I couldn't begin to figure out where to start. It's sad. Fortunately, I'm feeling this awesome, spring weather motivation today, so I'm going to try to take advantage of it! I might start out with some FlyLady chaos cleaning. (Where you just move from room to room and spend 15 minutes at a time in each room.) The best part about that method is when you're done you at least see some progress all over the place. Wish me luck!
Ok, I was just looking at the calendar because Simon is working on his 100th Day of School project for Monday.
Next Saturday is Groundhog Day, the next day is Super Bowl Sunday, that Tuesday after that is Mardi Gras, the next day is Ash Wednesday, and that Thursday is the Chinese New Year.
Then the week after that has Valentine's Day, the week after that has President's Day, and then the last week of the month has a Leap Day.
We get a holiday free week the first week of March (although Steve's 40th birthday is that week, so it's still a holiday in our house), and then Daylight Savings Time starts the 2nd week of March. Palm Sunday, first day of Spring, and Good Friday are all in the third week of March; then the next week has Easter. Then the next week is April Fool's Day.
So from now until April, there's some holiday every single week--and the first week of February almost has a holiday type thing every day.
Too bad we can't save a few of them for those long, holiday-free weeks of summer.
I downloaded a free trial version of Photoshop that I've started playing around with, but dang is there a lot to learn! Steve got me the real software from Costco for Christmas, but then we got a Costco coupon that goes into effect on January 21st that will save me $30, so I took it back for now. My trial version will still work until after the 21st, so I'm still using it.
I realized that I had pictures on my camera from August, so it might be time to upload them and maybe post a few. I'm giving you a break and not posting the Halloween pics. Here are a couple from Christmas and New Years.
(Click on the picture to get the longer caption.)
If you're ever going to take some meds that make you a lunatic, don't pick December. We've been running around like crazy people, and I've been wound up like an eight day clock the whole time.
The Saturday before Christmas we had invited Simon's classmates over to eat, decorate Christmas cookies and carol. We didn't have as many kids show up this year, but since you have to cook and clean no matter how many show up, it was still stressful.
On Christmas eve we had Steve's niece and her husband over for dinner. Unfortunately, we forgot until the last minute that Steve had to leave the party early to go play at Christmas eve service. We also found out that my poor nephew-in-law is allergic to cats. The poor guy was all swollen and stuffy by the time our meal was over. I finally took pity on him and suggested that we go drive around and look at Christmas lights to get him out of the house. After that they dropped us back off and left. I can't say I blame them.
Christmas day was also kind of stressful. We went and got my mom from the nursing home to spend the afternoon and evening with us. I feel guilty because she's in there, and I knew I should really spring her for Christmas, but it fed my anxiety.
Two days before new years we had some friends over for dinner. That wasn't too bad. I made barbecue ribs, coleslaw, baked beans, deviled eggs, chips, etc. I had fun--probably because I threw the ribs and baked beans in a low oven first thing in the morning, and didn't have to get everything done at the last minute. After dinner we played games for a while, which we haven't done in ages. (We should do that more often.)
The day before new year's, we went to visit our friend Cory from Nashville and our friend Christine and her kids from Cincy over at Cory's mom's house. Christine's kids are a little more active than I'm used to, but it was still a good visit.
New year's eve, we invited some friends over at the last minute. We originally called to see if their son wanted to spend the night with Simon; but when we started talking, we realized that none of us had plans so we invited the rest of his family over as well. We had all kinds of good junk food, with the idea that it would be our last hurrah before we start eating healthy for the start of the new year.
Of course it didn't work out that way. We spent too much for Christmas, and then I've somehow misplaced an insurance check that we figured we could use in a pinch. Then, nobody bothered to inform Steve that the church doesn't cut checks during the last week of the year so we're short that much more. All of that means we're waiting to restock the pantry with über healthy veggies, whole grains, etc; and instead working with a menu comprised of foods that have inexpensive ingredients until payday. For example, I pulled some dry beans out of the pantry and the ham bone from Christmas out of the freezer and started ham and bean soup for tonight's dinner. Yesterday we had homemade pancakes for breakfast and homemade pizza for lunch while Simon's friend was still here.
Today has been a really sleepy day for me. I didn't sleep well last night, and then took several naps today. I haven't even worked on laundry or dishes. I did start the soup, but I think we're going to have something else for dinner since it won't be done until later. I don't know what we're having--maybe spaghetti or something.
I'll post again soon with some pics I finally took out of the camera.
I hosted Bunco here on Friday night, which meant I've spent the past few days getting the house clean and getting food ready. We had lasagna, salad, focaccia bread, tiramisu, and cranberry bars with the lovely champagne cocktails for fun. (All homemade so it took me a while to get it ready.) We were also supposed to have soup, but I ran out of time at the last minute. Trust me, we didn't need the soup, we had lots of leftovers.
Everyone seemed to have a good time, and the house is already clean for Simon's Christmas party next weekend. Last year, we had Simon's classmates over for a Christmas party on the Saturday before Christmas. We fed them cheese pizza, let them decorate Christmas cookies, took them around the neighborhood to carol a few of our neighbors, and then brought them back here to eat their cookies and drink cocoa while we waited for their parents to come. The kids enjoyed it, and it was pretty low stress on me so we decided to do it again this year.
Anyway, after the Bunco party Friday night I was pooped. I managed to hold off a cold or sinus infection until after Bunco, so I spent all day yesterday mostly sitting around and doing nothing. It was good. The only housework I was forced to do was to clean out my fridge after I realized that it was only 53 degrees inside. (Which sucked because I had to throw out the tiramisu and several other leftovers.) The good news was that I hadn't really stocked the fridge with anything but party food, so it could have been much worse. I think I've decided that the defrost timer has gone out in this stupid fridge. I can get one online for $24, so I might try to replace it and see if that helps. The fridge is supposed to defrost a few times of day, but ours just freezes up until it stops cooling. Then I defrost it, and it works fine for another month or so. It is driving me crazy, so I hope replacing this part fixes it. I'm too cheap to hire a repairman if it's something I can replace with a screwdriver for less than $30, especially this close to Christmas.
Right now, I'm looking for a sugar cookie recipe that doesn't spread when it bakes. I have some cookie cutters that make four separate cookies that fit together to make an elf or Santa. I thought Simon's classmates would get a kick out of decorating an elf or Santa this year. I think Simon and I are going to work on making the cookies today, so we can keep them in the fridge until next weekend. (I'll try to post pictures when we're done.)
Over the weekend I finally started to get into the Christmas spirit. I started watching holiday movies while I worked around the house. I watched "Elf" and "The Holiday" while I cleaned the kitchen and tidied the living room.
I also followed the tradition I started when Simon was a baby, and watched "Enemy of the State" while I put up the artificial tree that we now put in the den. I have no idea how I got started watching that movie every year. My guess would be that the first year we had just either rented or bought the DVD, and I watched it while putting up the tree. The next year I decided to watch it again because I hadn't seen it in a while. Now I watch "Enemy of the State" every single year while I put up the artificial tree.
By now, I've got it down to a science. As I put each branch on, I wrap it with lights. By the time the movie's over, I'm done; and all of those lights look amazing! I use colored lights for the fake tree because it is the one that gets all of the hodge-podge ornaments. We have a mix of homemade ornaments, Hallmark ornaments, gifts that Steve has gotten from students, and a lot of cartoon character ornaments that we've gotten for Simon over the years. I don't think there's an ornament on there that doesn't have a story.
Around the time Steve and I were married, I lived in an apartment with 12' ceilings and huge windows in the front part of the house. Every year we bought huge cut trees to go in the front window. That first year we were married, we bought the Griswold family tree, used white lights that we had inherited from my ex-roommate, and then I made a tree skirt, angel, and several ornaments along with the ornaments that we had gotten as wedding gifts to go on the tree. Shortly after that, we moved into a tiny duplex with a very small living room. We went to Franks and bought one of those artificial trees that are tall and skinny so it would fit in the room--and I still had to leave off a few branches from the back so I could push it farther against the wall to make more room. The first few years we still used white lights and started using the hodge podge ornaments . The year Simon was born was the first year I bought colored lights for that tree. My thought was that Simon was only four months old, so blinking colored lights were pretty much all he was going to enjoy about Christmas. That first tree was the tackiest thing! It had zillions of colored lights, and no two strands blinked at the same time. Simon was memorized. It was perfect! For the next several years, we used that tree with all of the colored lights, although after Simon started school I stopped making it flash.
When we moved here, I decided that we finally had room to have two Christmas trees so I could have a themed, decorator tree like I usually had before Steve and I got married. Steve wanted to start getting cut trees again, so the cut tree goes in the living room and has white lights and a lovely snow theme. Our den is about the same size as our old living room, so the colorful, fake tree goes in there. This year I'm even going to let Simon put the ornaments on the den tree. He's very excited about that since I was a complete control freak about the ornaments on the snow tree.
He has a doctor's appointment after school, then I might bake cookies and let him decorate the tree. That sounds fun and Christmassy!
I haven't had a decent night's sleep in weeks. I can fall asleep, but somewhere around 3:00 or 4:00 am I am wide awake and worrying. (Usually about things related to our parents.) Back when I was still drinking caffeine, I was convinced that it caused my insomnia; but I haven't had caffeine or any other stimulant in ages. I had Steve unearth our treadmill that had gotten covered with boxes a few weeks ago when our basement flooded, but I've been so tired that I haven't used it. (I think that sort of thing can be an ugly cycle.)
Sometimes I can get back to sleep, but almost every day this week we've gotten a 5:30 am call from one of Steve's co-workers telling him that they have a weather related delay or closing. One day we got the 5:30 delay call, and then another call an hour later telling him that they were closing school for the day. (I don't *have* to be awake until 7:00, so I was not pleased to hear the phone ring before that.)
The past few nights, I've refused to let myself worry. I've forced myself to lie there and play a mind game where I pick a topic and then have to come up with a topic oriented word for each letter of the alphabet. I used to do easy topics like food or girls' names. Last night I was trying to come up with first names of people I went to college with. I remember getting to N before I fell back to sleep.
Fortunately several good things happened today. Not only I finally manage to unclog our bathroom drain that has been running extremely slowly for the past several days, but I got some news on the two things that have worrying me the most. For the first time in weeks I feel like a weight has been lifted from my shoulders.
Right now I'm exhausted, but I have high hopes that I'll get a good nights sleep. We're all fighting off a cold, and I'm sure the changing weather and my lack of sleep haven't helped.
Tomorrow morning we have the staff Christmas brunch at Simon's school. I hope it's fun and not a lot of quality time sitting around listening to the school administrator lecture. (I like the administrator, but man is he wordy!) Last year they offered free child care for a few hours so we could go Christmas shopping, but I haven't heard anything about that option for tomorrow. No matter, I need to get this house cleaned up and finish Christmas decorating so I don't have to rush to get it done before I host Bunco a week from tonight.
I barely know most of the twelve women coming over, yet I'm extremely nervous about having them over for this party. I have no idea why. I don't think they're judgmental--and I don't care about what the judgmental ones would think anyway. Yesterday I didn't feel well. Instead of doing constructive things like cleaning; I made up a list of all of the food I'm going to serve, my grocery list, and a rough draft of a to-do list. It involves having the house mostly clean and decorated this weekend, so let's all keep our fingers crossed.
I've been so anxious over the past week, and the only reason I can think of is my mom's house. My mom has a lot of stuff, and there have only been two days in the past week when I didn't wake up at 4:00 am and stress out about getting it cleaned out. (The other two days I took a sleeping pill so I could finally get some rest.)
I went to the OB/Gyn today for my two week follow-up after my surgery. They basically just asked me how I was doing, and then he told me some details about what he thinks is going on. He said that my polyp was pretty tiny, but that I had some extra buildup in there so it's probably good that he cleaned everything out. We talked about PCOS, but I don't really have enough of the symptoms for him to think that's what's going on. He said that while my progesterone levels have been slightly elevated when I'm supposed to be ovulating, they aren't as high as they should be so he prescribed a very low level of Clomid. (By low level I mean half a pill each day for 5 days.) I was pleasantly surprised to find out that Clomid is one of the generic drugs that WalMart uses as a loss leader. You know I hate The Evil Empire that is Wally, but I'm not stupid. I had to wait half an hour, but I only paid $5.40 for my three Clomid pills. When he first mentioned Clomid a few visits ago, I knew that I was going to have to pay for it out-of-pocket so I started nosing around to find out how much it is. I found that it's just under $50 most places, so I was thrilled to pay $5.40 for it.
In the meantime, I've been trying to get our house cleaned and decorated for Christmas because I'm hosting Bunco here on the 14th. We have a cut tree in the living room that has white lights and is snow themed, but we also have an artificial tree that goes in the den that will be covered in obscene amount of colored lights and all of our hodge-podge ornaments that we've collected over the years. We got two matching couches for the living room over the summer, so I had both of our other couches crammed into our tiny den. We decided to take some of the other furniture down to the basement so we'd have room for the tree in the den. We moved our big old console TV out of the living room and down to the basement, then we moved our entertainment center from the den into the living room. After that we took a big table from the den into the basement, and then moved a smaller TV into the den to sit on the built in shelves. With all of that done, we now have a sofa on either side of the room, and you have to look down to the end of the room to watch TV, but that's ok. You have to do the same thing in the living room. I've been waiting for Simon to get his room cleaned before I put the den tree up because Simon wants to help. At this rate it might be Christmas 2008 before his room is clean and we can get started on the den tree.
