Day 1: Back to College

It is only day 1 of my new adventure and I'm already feeling frustrated, confused and on the verge of tears.

First of all, I still don't have my book for one of the classes, it is supposed to be here tomorrow.

I have an assignment due by Thursday in that class and a test Friday and no book.

Being a full time stay at home mom I didn't expect this to be easy.

It is hard to concentrate on anything with a 2 year old running around.  So I'm hoping to drag my butt out of bed a few hours earlier than normal a few days a week and dedicate that to school.  It also helps that Davis spends each Thursday at his daycare/therapy facility for 5 hours, which I may bump up to an entire day.

Okay, rambling, sorry.

This morning while Davis was being good and watching a show, I printed my syllabi for my classes and sat down to read them.

I get through one and am onto the next one when I hear a ton of commotion and crying.

This is totally my fault, but I left a bowl of oatmeal within his reach.

He managed to grab it and spill the entire bowl all over our carpeting in the family room.

It would have been an easier clean up if our carpent wasn't that stupid shag that came back in style.

Oatmeal and shag carpet don't mix well.

Then to try to clean that up with a very inquisitive 2 year old equals disaster.

He had a fit because I wouldn't let him take apart the Little Green Machine.

He takes everything we own apart, phones, remotes, vacuum cleaners, whatever he can take apart he does.

So, while trying to clean up this awesome oatmeal mess, I also had a very unhappy little boy who wanted the Little Green Machine to play with.

I spent an hour cleaning the mess up, all while Davis cried and yelled at me.

I felt like this was a sign from god telling me that going to school just isn't in the cards for me.

I feel like a failure already and it is only Day 1.

Leftovers

When I started staying home I started being a little more conscious of food waste.

Before, when I worked, we would sometimes eat leftovers and mostly we'd just throw them away.

Most meals I make serve 4-6 people.

We are a family of 2.5.

I say 2.5 because Davis doesn't always eat what we do for dinner and if he does, it is such a small amount that he only counts as 1/2 a person.

So, since we really only eat half of what I make for dinner, what to do with the leftovers?

Like I said, pre-stay at home mom I would have let the sit in the fridge for a week, we maybe ate them, we maybe packed them for lunch, but mostly they just went in the trash.

Now I always freeze the other half of our dinners, as long as it is something that freezes well.

I love it.

Then the next week or in a few weeks I don't have to actually cook as much, just thaw and re-heat.

I'm saving money and saving myself precious time.

Whenever we grill chicken, we always have leftovers, here is a great recipe that my husband and I love.  I've modified it from the original recipe, so don't ask what that is, it is long gone by now, but here is my recipe.

1 lb. or so of cooked chicken, cut into small cubes

1 medium size green pepper (cut into strips)

1/4 - 1/2 cup Feta cheese (depending on your taste, I go heavy on the feta so I do 1/2 cup, if your not a feta person, use whatever kind of cheese you like.  I've even been known to use shredded taco cheese!)

1 package of frozen cheese tortellini (think it is usually about 10 oz.)

1/4 cup olive oil

1/4 cup lemon juice

1/4 cup honey

1/4 cup of nuts (I say nuts because I use whatever, the original recipe calls for chopped walnuts, but I use pecans or walnuts, both equally good, sometimes I don't even use them)

About an hour to two hours before you want to serve dinner make the dressing by mixing 1/4 cup olive oil, 1/4 cup lemon juice, 1/4 cup of honey and 1/4 cup of nuts.  Put in the fridge.

When you are ready to eat chop up your green pepper and chicken.  Heat about 1 TB of olive oil in a pan and sautee the green pepper until cooked to your desired way, I like mine kinda burnt.  Once those are cooked throw in the already cooked chicken and just brown it a bit. Remove from heat and put in a bowl to cool off.

Next, boil the tortellini according to the instructions on the package.  Once they are cooked and drained, I like to run cold water over them so they are not hot.  This salad is better on the cool side.

Toss together the chicken/green pepper, tortellini, dressing and feta cheese.

Feel free to add your own twist to it, sometimes I add in baby tomatos or little sliced black olives.

I'm not very good about sticking to recipes, I like to experiment if you will, which sometimes drives my husband crazy.  He always comments how nothing I make is ever the same as the time before :o)

Enjoy!!!!!

I'm Not 80

But I have shingles.

Seriously?

I thought I had a spider bite. 

I noticed this red spot near my hip bone on Monday and assumed it was a spider bite.

I also noticed that I was in a lot of pain around my back, down my butt and down my leg, but just thought it was from chasing Davis.

Today I woke up and the spot was so painful that I decided I probably had a bite that got infected and better get into the doctor before the weekend.

She took one look and said, that isn't a bug bite, that is shingles.

Then asked me if I had any other symptoms and I told her about the odd pain that started before I noticed the spot and she said, yep, most likely shingles.

Here's to a little Valtrex and Benadryl cream.

The Trolls

We have a gang of trolls that live in our attic.

They only come out after I go to sleep though.

It never fails.

Every single night I swear I go to bed with a spotless house and every single morning I wake up to a disaster.

Half empty water bottles in various places, wrappers from Little Debbie snack cakes on the tables, crumbs on the countertops in the kitchen, men's clothing laying next to the hamper (not in the hamper), toothpaste all over the sink, a collection of men's "beauty" products if you will all over the bathroom counter, a total disaster I tell you.

These trolls are a total nightmare.

Know anyone that exterminates trolls?

Mom, NO!!!

Davis' two favorite words.

When Davis didn't talk I was worried.

I was jealous of other kids his age that talked.

I felt kind a left out.

I cried about it.

Now that he has started talking, there are two words he says together that kind of make the hair on my neck stand up on end.

They are similiar to that newborn cry.

MOM, NO!!!!!!!  (said in your most whiney, screechy, toddler voice)

**Davis has a speech delay and a sensory disorder, I have yet to write any blog posts on this because my story is long and quite frankly, I haven't had time because it will probably be a mini series when I get around to it**

The Great Debate

Formula or Breast.

One of my FAVORITE shopping sites actually posted this on their FB fan page last weekend.

Talk about a way to piss off customers.

This is one of the greatest mommy debates, ever.

It puts some breastfeeding moms up on their high horse and surely can bring a formula feeding mom down to a feeling of complete guilt.

And quite frankly I'm sick of it.

I formula fed Davis and am proud of it.  There.

In the end it doesn't really matter how you feed your kid.

Formula or breastmilk, just feed them one or other or a mix of both.

I'm neither pro-formula or pro-breastfeeding.

I'm pro-feed the baby.

What about you?

Excessive

I've said this before, Americans are excessive in everything they do.

I'm guilty of being excessive.

So are you.

At the end of last summer when I went through my son's clothes, pulling things out he wore one time, things with tags still attached, it hit me, kids don't need an excessive wardrobe.

I stopped buying tons of clothes for him.

No more beginning of the season shopping sprees, dropping $100s on clothes that will never get worn and if they do it is only 1 or 2 times.

I cleaned up my act.  This summer I spent exactly $40 on clothes, a few new basic shirts and a few shorts.  I bought him 2 new shirts for his pictures with a gift card received from his 2nd birthday. Wow!

The rest of his clothes were hand me downs from my cousin.

I feel so good about that.

Now I'm on a toy rampage.

My husband and I pulled out not 1, not 2, but 6 large Rubbermaid storage totes stuffed with toys.

Toys I forgot we had, toys he NEVER played with.

Hell, we found 2 of those bins out in the garage and didn't even know they were there.

I was toy crazy today.

I made 2 piles.

A keep pile and a take to the local resale shop pile.

What went to the local resale shop were 3 large bins of toys, several large toys that were too big to fit inside a bin, a box of clothing from last winter and another bag of clothing that they refused last time we went.

We had so much stuff we had to remove the car seat and lay the seats in the back of the Jeep down. (don't worry, Davis was with my mom, he wasn't riding with no car seat, ha!)

When the lady realized how much we had my husband saw her mouth, "OMG", to her co-worker.

OMG is right.

I said to her, "this is all from one 2 year old who is an only child and only grandchild, it is out of control"

She laughed and nodded her head in agreement.

Davis is not getting any new toys for a long time.  He doesn't even play with the ones we did keep.

Kids don't know any better, they don't care if a toy is new or used, they also don't care how many toys they have.  What matters is they can make fun for themselves out of what they do have.

What a kid will be happy about is when he or she hits 18, is that his or her parents saved them a nice amount of money for college by not being excessive with toys or clothes.

Davis has a savings account.  Everytime I think about buying him something, we will make an extra deposit on top of what we already put in it each month.  The grandparents can start adding to the account as well for holidays and birthdays.

That is what will make Davis happy someday.

Not a $500 playhouse or a $300 sandbox or a $500 summer wardrobe or a $50 pair of shoes he wore one time.