Weekends - are they really all that?

The weekend is upon us.  I’m always excited for the weekend to start.  I have visions of relaxing.  I have visions of accomplishing a ton around the house.  You know, all of those things that I don’t do on weeknights because I’m too tired from work and from dealing with nightly homework/dinner/etc.  So, I start planning out my weekend.  And realize that I need 3 weekends to get it all done.

I want to do something fun and different with the kids.  I also want to cook a bunch of things for the freezer.  I have kind of run out of cooked meals, and some weeknights it is just not possible to cook a respectable meal.   I need to clean house and get organized for the start of next week.  I need to pack up some outgrown kid clothes.  And I need to go through the adult closets to bag up un-needed clothes for a trip to Goodwill (or someone who will take these things off of my hands).

After reading a couple of Eric Carle books to Chloe last night, I decided that I want to try Tissue Paper Collage Art.  I think it would be fun for the kids and doesn’t seem like it would be THAT hard.  Of course, I also think that building a house doesn’t seem that hard either.  You know, you put down some concrete, you hammer some nails into wood, put in insulation, nail up some sheetrock, throw on a roof (shingling looks rather simple, line them up and nail into place, right?).  Stack the bricks on the outside with cement looking stuff between them.  I can stack blocks.  Learned as a toddler.  Can’t be much different.  Right?   I could build a house.  Really.  Ok.  I know that I over-simplify and have way too much confidence in my abilities.

That makes me question the tissue art thing.  Maybe I've got too much confidence in my crafting ability as well.  But I found an article on eHow that confirms it is “surprisingly simple”.  Hmmm…maybe the kids and I will try it this weekend.  Or maybe I will add it to the long list of things I’d like to do … one day.  http://www.ehow.com/how_4719162_tissue-paper-collage-art.html

I want to take the kids out to the park with my camera.  I don’t do that often enough.  But, I don’t think it will be cool and dry this weekend.  So maybe not.  I’m liking air conditioning a bit too much to hang out in the park. 

My freezer is lacking cooked meals.  I usually have some cooked meatloaf in there.  You can usually find gumbo, spaghetti sauce and meatballs, and a lasagna or two in my freezer.  When I cook things like that, I cook extra to freeze.  Every now and then I get a wild hair and spend a full Saturday cooking “for the freezer”.  Some of my ideas I get from those Once a Month cooking websites.  Of course I love cooking too much to avoid it completely.  But with the hectic schedule, an active (and hungry at 5 pm) toddler, homework, and early bedtimes - weeknight cooking is not fun for me these days.

I got the stuff to make Chalupas.  I haven’t made that in a long time, probably because I associate it with autumn/winter meals.    I am guessing that the fact that I picked up the ingredients indicates that I am fully ready for fall weather to set in.  Or really, I’d be happy with a New Orleans winter (fall-like weather to you northern folks).  Chalupas is one of those freezer meals.  Huge pot, a lot left-over, eat one meal and freeze the rest in family meal size containers.  Even though the weather is all wrong I will make it this weekend.   I also got the stuff to make a bunch of meatloaf.  And enchiladas.  And a pork roast.

Then, I need to clean house.  It gets trashed all week and by Friday is in desperate need.  We actually do not have our normal huge pile of dirty laundry to deal with this weekend.  But don’t let that fool you.  Instead, I have a sofa covered with clean clothes that must be folded and put away.  No one puts away their clothes.  No one.  If you get your kids to do this, please send suggestions.

In the end, my weekend does not seem so relaxing, does it?  Maybe I shouldn’t wish for them.

still on a high

Excuse me ... but I'll ramble here.  So much is going on, life seems to be spinning.  I'm trying to catch up, really I am.

 

My baby, my youngest is turning EIGHT this week.  EIGHT!!!   How can this be?  I still remember his birth like it was yesterday (well, sorta - don't ask me to recite the exact time, his exact weight, or exact length without looking at his birth certificate ... there, I said it, I'm a bad mom!).

The kids start school on Monday and I'm not ready.  School supplies are mostly done (thanks to the program at the school where I could write them a check and they provide me with a box of the required school supplies).   But I still don't have the uniform situation worked out.  We went last night and they were out of the size shirts that Philip needs.  They had a LOT of the larger shirts for their school, but were out of the smaller kids shirts.  So today I'll run to another uniform shop to look for them.  Nothing like waiting until the last minute, huh?  But really, it snuck up on me and I've been so busy.....

Busy ... that's my excuse.

Busy with things like The Columns for drinks last night.  Or the reunion the weekend before.  Or the Farmer's Market yesterday.  Important stuff, ya' know?

Seriously, I'm still on a bit of a high from the reunion.  It was such a great time.  Everyone enjoyed themselves and that makes me happy.  Last night was a mini-reunion at The Columns and I had a few mojitos and relaxed.  It was fun. 

I haven't been cooking as much lately.  Just doing things like throwing together some grilled (ummm, by grilled I mean thin slices thrown in a hot cast iron skillet with some olive oil) eggplant, onions, bok choy, shrimp - tossing in oyster sauce/fish sauce/soy sauce/butter/brown sugar/shallots/scallions, and serving over soba noodles. 

I'm hoping to change that.  Yesterday at the Farmer's Market I got more eggplant (I think the house is getting tired of me buying/serving eggplant, but it is in season and I love it!),  tomatoes, some rosemary, and oyster mushrooms.  I don't know what I'll do with the oyster mushrooms yet.  I'm still researching and thinking. 
Speaking of cooking and food shopping .... this economy is cramping my cooking style.  I have never paid much attention to my grocery budget.  I have a long list of standard/staples that I keep in the house at all times.  I like a full pantry/fridge.  I do not plan out meals.  I like to go into the kitchen, dig around, see what I've got, see what inspires me, and throw something together - either something I've cooked before or something I make up on the spot. 

In order to do that, you really need a well stocked kitchen.   I've always got flour tortillas, corn tortillas, rice paper wraps (for spring rolls/etc).  I've always got a HUGE supply of Jasmine rice, soba noodles, bean thread noodles, rice noodles (wide and skinny).  I'm never without at least 10 kinds of cheese (an expensive habit!!), and the basic veggies: onions, more than one color bell pepper, green onions, shallots, cucumbers, celery, carrots, lettuce, radishes, mung bean sprouts, fresh cilantro and parsley, and in season-great tomatoes.   My freezer always has shrimp (size depends on what the Farmers Market has - yesterday I got BEAUTIFUL HUGE JUMBO 9-12 count shrimp), beef (roast, ground, and thin round steaks), chicken (stewing hen and smaller frying chicken, and sometimes packs of thighs)...etc.   You see how this can get expensive????   But, when I want to cook, I want to COOK! 

This week - I haven't really cooked.  We had that stir fry over soba one night, Popeyes one night, very very bad Chinese take out last night (I was going out - no time for cooking).  Hopefully tonight I'll cook a proper meal.....

In the genes

There is no denying that Philip, our youngest, is 100% HIS FATHER'S CHILD.   Those of you who know him, know that Chris is a total smart ass, and always has been. 

And apparently, Philip takes after him.

This afternoon when it was time for me to pick the kids up, they were at the pool.  Philip was not ready to go and used several stall tactics, dragging the process out beyond ten minutes.  Our little mental struggle ended with me holding his upper arm very tightly and practically dragging him to the car.  When we got home, I began my lecture about respect.  He insisted that he respects his elders, and had several excuses for not complying when I told him it was time to leave.

During my lecture, I said something pretty sarcastic.  At this point I don't even remember exactly what it was. (Maybe "Oh, so you DO respect me, I see that, like when you ignore me and run away when I tell you it is time to leave, you are right, that is respect, I was wrong." ... or something like that.)  It was then that he held up his hand, and said "can we do this without the sarcasm"?

I choked, bit my lower lip, and I think I hurt my throat trying to control the chuckles.  Chris opened the fridge and  buried his face into it, in an effort to hide his laughing.  I turned my back to Philip and just couldn't stop shaking I was laughing so hard - though I did remain silent.   

In this situation, it is bad to let him see you laugh.  Very bad.  I know that.  But I finally just had to walk outside.  I couldn't recover.  He knew what was happening.  He knew he pushed the button that he wanted to push.  Mission accomplished.  And once again, proof that Chris is his dad!

Still alive

I'm still alive, but I haven't been on myspace much at all lately (they expect me to work when I'm at the office getting paid).  Though I have been keeping up a bit and am on Facebook a bit more. 

So much is going on...the summer just seems busy.  I guess part of it is the kids getting older and involved in more things.  Really, I try to avoid the overscheduling (soccer, baseball, karate, music, etc) that is so common these days.  But at the same time, the kids have interests and I want them to explore those interests.  And I want them to be involved.  I just get picky about what they do. 

Right now, they have tennis lessons two mornings a week.  Now, I have never played tennis (unless you count hitting a ball against the brick wall with the cheapest racquet possible when I was 10).  But, we pay for this country club membership and don't use much of what you get for the $550 a year.  Why not use the tennis courts, right?  So ... the kids are in lessons and are taking great pride in teaching ME what they learn.  A couple of weeks ago I brought them to Academy to get some practice balls, a basket to hold those balls, new racquets for them - and a racquet for me.  We spent more time chasing balls on the court than actually hitting them with the racquet.  BUT - it was fun, it was EXERCISE, and the kids had fun. 

In the evenings, they have swimming.  The swim team for the country club circuit is great - all levels including VERY beginners are included and rewarded.  They practice 3 to 4 times a week and have meets just about every Tuesday.  They get ribbons for participating (they both got 3rd place ribbons last week!), and they have learned to swim.  Not to mention the fact that kids sleep REALLY well after a couple of hours swimming. ;)  I posted a few pictures from the last meet in an album here on myspace (taken with Chris's camera - I was afraid to bring mine to the pool!).

Chris is working long hours, but he LOVES being back in the classroom.  It is where he belongs.  Unfortunately, he's got early morning classes (8 am two days a week) and late classes (6-9 pm FOUR days a week), so he's exhausted by Friday and sometimes goes a couple of days without seeing the kids.  It is Thursday evening, and he hasn't seen them since he dropped them at tennis Tuesday morning.  They will be asleep when he gets home tonight so he won't see them until tomorrow.  And Friday is his "zombie" day where he walks around in a daze still suffering from complete exhaustion. 

I've got a 5 day weekend coming up and am excited to have some down time.  Tomorrow I think we'll head to Baton Rouge to see Sarah and Jim for the 4th.  The kids are excited about that (and so are we!!).  I may grab my camera and go grab some shots somewhere - it's been too long since I've done that.  Though I have an extensive lens wish list, I can't justify buying even one more until I use the three that I have!!!!   So maybe I'll have some fun new pics to post after this weekend.  Chris still has to work, but maybe I'll bring the kids over to have lunch with him Monday. 

I have still be cooking, just not posting about it.  I think tonight I will make the sweet potatoe and shrimp cakes that I posted in the fall.  I've got all of the ingredients in the fridge.  Or maybe I'll just order a pizza and tackle the mountain of laundry on the sofa that is waiting so patiently to be folded.  Or maybe I'll just order that pizza and watch the Olympic swim trials tonight with the kids. 

Great news!

I am so excited.  I cried last night I was so excited. 

I've posted about issues with our kids' school in the past.  We have lots of them.  My kids struggle in their classes - they make A's, but get very bored, cause disruptions. 

They HATE HATE HATE the boring worksheets that are the same repetitive material all week.  Zachary's science class is doing worksheets - the same ones (new/different material each week) worksheets.  Monday is a vocabulary list of science words.  This week it is parts of a plant.  Monday was fill in the blank defintions.  Tuesday, those same words were in a "find a word" sheet.  Wednesday, it was a crossword puzzle.  Thursday it was a review worksheet, the same "study guide" fill in the blank defintions they got on Monday.  On one hand, I agree that repitition is important.  On the otherhand, sitting doing these worksheets is BORING for my kids - they aren't learning something new, and they zip through them in 3 minutes, and then have lots of time to talk and be disruptive.  They aren't challenged. 

Anyway, a while back I had posted that we had applied to the school system's "magnet" school (they said that they don't use that term), the "Academy for Advanced Studies".   They took the test for it in January.  Acceptance is based on openings available, and then test rankings.  I was worried because I had heard that 4th grade was a hard grade to enter (this year they have three 3rd grade classes and only two 4th grade classes).  They don't have another classroom to add another class, and squeezing the three 3rd grade classes into two 4th grade classes would mean if there were any openings, there were few.  I also had heard that there were very very few applications for next year's 3rd grade class. 

Given those two bits of information, I was worried that even if they both scored really well, that Philip may get in and Zachary not, because of space constraints.  And I can't have them at 2 different schools - logistically it wouldn't work. 

We got our letters yesterday.  I was on the phone with Chris when I opened them.  I cried when I read the first line of each letter to him "Congratulations, Zachary/Philip has been accepted...". 

Of course, this means that I am not buying another single uniform shirt this year, and they are starting to get holes in some of their shirts.  I commented this weekend that I needed to go get a few new uniform shirts.  Won't do that now.  They had better make the ones they have now last.  Even if it means I'm washing every night for the next day but the end of the school year.  I'll have to buy ALL new uniform shirts next year. 

I go next week to do registration.  I need to gather up the latest report cards, and their gifted program IEP's because the school wants copies of those.