You know what makes my weekends really great? When Brandon is out of town. Especially when he is gone two weekends in a row and the first one is for a class that he isn't even taking. It makes me even more excited when it's the day after he has to stay at school until 10:45 PM welcoming the prospective grad students. Because between lab work, finishing three more papers for his thesis, and having everything done for graduation in three months, he has tons of time for this.
I just love sitting at home when I'm 25 weeks pregnant and putting the kids to bed by myself. And I do really well having no one to talk to during the evening. I'm totally not going to go to Sonic and eat my feelings in the form of a peanut butter hot fudge shake every night. My favorite is going to be when I get to get the kids ready for 9:00 church and teach primary all by myself.
Yeah, I thought you'd be jealous.
Friday, February 21, 2014
Monday, February 17, 2014
A girl can dream.
Someday, I will have enough water pressure to wash all the shampoo out of my hair when I shower.
I will have an AC that doesn't leak water all over the bathroom floor every time I turn it on.
I will have a pantry in my kitchen instead of on the other side of my house.
I will have a big enough car to put the groceries in the trunk instead of piling them all in the passenger seat.
The kids will have a playroom so their toys aren't laying all over the living room because it's the only space big enough for them to play in.
I won't have to paint on the kitchen table.
I will have a backyard so that I can send the kids outside without having to worry about creeps running off with them or cars running them over in the parking lot.
And when I feel like ordering pizza instead of making dinner, instead of getting a Papa Johns carryout special I will get a Candelaris deep dish monstrosity because I will have the guts to spend $24 on a pizza.
The only problem is, someday is still six months away, and if I think about it too much, I might miss out on the now.
Right now, Brandon has a flexible schedule and lets me sleep in every day.
My kids play well together.
When Charlie wakes up in the morning he stands up and yells, "Charlie's awake!" until someone comes to get him out of his crib.
The weather is perfect.
The Rodeo is coming.
Bluebonnet season is almost here.
I don't have a newborn to take care of and 20 lbs of baby weight to lose.
So yes, as excited as I am about how my life will be once we move and Brandon starts his job, I need to step back and realize that now is pretty good.
I will have an AC that doesn't leak water all over the bathroom floor every time I turn it on.
I will have a pantry in my kitchen instead of on the other side of my house.
I will have a big enough car to put the groceries in the trunk instead of piling them all in the passenger seat.
The kids will have a playroom so their toys aren't laying all over the living room because it's the only space big enough for them to play in.
I won't have to paint on the kitchen table.
I will have a backyard so that I can send the kids outside without having to worry about creeps running off with them or cars running them over in the parking lot.
And when I feel like ordering pizza instead of making dinner, instead of getting a Papa Johns carryout special I will get a Candelaris deep dish monstrosity because I will have the guts to spend $24 on a pizza.
The only problem is, someday is still six months away, and if I think about it too much, I might miss out on the now.
Right now, Brandon has a flexible schedule and lets me sleep in every day.
My kids play well together.
When Charlie wakes up in the morning he stands up and yells, "Charlie's awake!" until someone comes to get him out of his crib.
The weather is perfect.
The Rodeo is coming.
Bluebonnet season is almost here.
I don't have a newborn to take care of and 20 lbs of baby weight to lose.
So yes, as excited as I am about how my life will be once we move and Brandon starts his job, I need to step back and realize that now is pretty good.
Friday, February 14, 2014
That was not smart.
I feel like Bill Murray in What about Bob when he hangs up the phone and walks away whining, "That was not smart."
I had a pretty elaborate Valentine's day breakfast planned out for the kids. I was going to have the table all set in the morning with their presents on their plates and the cards that Reed sent to them sitting there for them to open. Then we were going to eat cinnamon rolls, and since I don't like getting up at 6 AM (or even 8 AM for that matter), I had looked up a recipe for overnight cinnamon rolls that you just throw in the oven when you get up in the morning.
Only I didn't look at it closely enough.
I had briefly skimmed the recipe to make sure I had all the ingredients. I missed the part where you let the dough rise for 2 hours before rolling it out. I missed the part where you put it in a stand mixer with a dough hook for 10-12 minutes. I also missed the part where you let it rise for another 30 minutes in the morning before putting it in the oven. So at 11:30 PM when I go to throw it all together, I'm in for quite a surprise, because I will apparently only start rolling out the dough at 1:30 AM. I don't own a stand mixer so I had to do the 10-12 minutes of kneading by hand, which I was NOT happy about (I gave up after 5, so we'll just see how they turn out). And seriously? Letting them rise for 30 minutes in the morning? What is the point of overnight cinnamon rolls if all the rising doesn't happen OVERNIGHT?
When I did a little more research I realized that the root of my problem stemmed from the creators of the recipe: Williams-Sonoma. I should never trust a recipe that comes from a stupid overpriced store with stupid professional chefs with every kitchen gadget known to man at their disposal in their stupid test kitchens. They don't care if a stupid cinnamon roll recipe takes up 12 hours of their time and their kids are screaming at them in hunger the next morning while the dough rises for an extra half hour and then cooks for that long.
It is so much work being a good mom.
I had a pretty elaborate Valentine's day breakfast planned out for the kids. I was going to have the table all set in the morning with their presents on their plates and the cards that Reed sent to them sitting there for them to open. Then we were going to eat cinnamon rolls, and since I don't like getting up at 6 AM (or even 8 AM for that matter), I had looked up a recipe for overnight cinnamon rolls that you just throw in the oven when you get up in the morning.
Only I didn't look at it closely enough.
I had briefly skimmed the recipe to make sure I had all the ingredients. I missed the part where you let the dough rise for 2 hours before rolling it out. I missed the part where you put it in a stand mixer with a dough hook for 10-12 minutes. I also missed the part where you let it rise for another 30 minutes in the morning before putting it in the oven. So at 11:30 PM when I go to throw it all together, I'm in for quite a surprise, because I will apparently only start rolling out the dough at 1:30 AM. I don't own a stand mixer so I had to do the 10-12 minutes of kneading by hand, which I was NOT happy about (I gave up after 5, so we'll just see how they turn out). And seriously? Letting them rise for 30 minutes in the morning? What is the point of overnight cinnamon rolls if all the rising doesn't happen OVERNIGHT?
When I did a little more research I realized that the root of my problem stemmed from the creators of the recipe: Williams-Sonoma. I should never trust a recipe that comes from a stupid overpriced store with stupid professional chefs with every kitchen gadget known to man at their disposal in their stupid test kitchens. They don't care if a stupid cinnamon roll recipe takes up 12 hours of their time and their kids are screaming at them in hunger the next morning while the dough rises for an extra half hour and then cooks for that long.
It is so much work being a good mom.
Wednesday, February 05, 2014
Fears
It's funny to find out what your kids are afraid of. At around age 2, Violet started being scared of "big monkeys." She had no problems with lions and bears and the like while we were at the zoo, but she would not go near a chimpanzee to save her life. There is also a stuffed gorilla at the Museum of Natural Science (taxonomy stuffed, not teddy bear stuffed) and she wouldn't even go in the hallway where it stood. I'm not sure what prompted this fear, but it was pretty clear. She's a little better about it now, but she still keeps her distance at the orangutan exhibit.
And since Charlie has turned 2, his fears have been made known as well. A few weeks ago we went to get the mail and there was a dead cockroach on the porch and Charlie would not go outside. I can relate to fear of cockroaches, but even I was okay just walking around this one. Charlie, however, made me hold him and looked at me very seriously and said, "I am scared of it." Violet has always been a talker, but she turns silent when she gets scared, so I was surprised when Charlie was vocal and completely articulate about what scared him. The second incident happened at the zoo, and just like Violet, Charlie was fine with the large predatory animals. When we stopped to look at the octopus, he just slowly backed up and again started saying, "I am scared of it."
I wonder what causes these fears. Gorillas and octopi scare them, but they love the Komodo dragons and anacondas and bats. I guess I'll have something interesting to tell them about themselves when they're older.
And since Charlie has turned 2, his fears have been made known as well. A few weeks ago we went to get the mail and there was a dead cockroach on the porch and Charlie would not go outside. I can relate to fear of cockroaches, but even I was okay just walking around this one. Charlie, however, made me hold him and looked at me very seriously and said, "I am scared of it." Violet has always been a talker, but she turns silent when she gets scared, so I was surprised when Charlie was vocal and completely articulate about what scared him. The second incident happened at the zoo, and just like Violet, Charlie was fine with the large predatory animals. When we stopped to look at the octopus, he just slowly backed up and again started saying, "I am scared of it."
I wonder what causes these fears. Gorillas and octopi scare them, but they love the Komodo dragons and anacondas and bats. I guess I'll have something interesting to tell them about themselves when they're older.
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