Gourmet Night at Casa Mac & Cheese

I finally opened up that Jessica Seinfeld cookbook that I bought many moons ago, but tossed aside due to pregnancy nausea, coupled with some pretty gross sounding recipes. Every recipe in the book is designed to hide nutritious food in other food such that kids don't know that they're eating something good for them. It would be great if I could get Pumpkin to eat well, but I have to confess, I'm not much better than Pumpkin. I'm actually worse because I'm supposed to know better. I do force down veggies at some of my meals, but it's usually in the form of a salad or coleslaw, and not some of the more "hard core" veggies. Today I decided to make Jessica's chicken nuggets, which are made by dipping the chicken in a broccoli/egg mixture, then breading it in a bread crumb/flax meal mixture. The chicken nuggets are then supposed to be fried in a pan, but I baked them in the oven as I was certain that I would burn them in the pan. I did try to fry a couple of them as an experiment, and although I did burn them a little, I think I could figure out how to do it right for next time. Anyhow, since Jessica Seinfeld included family testimony along with each of her recipes, I figured I'd let you know what my family thought.

Mom thought they were delicious! She even suggested that I make them again, and not worry about frying them.

Hubby thought that they were really good. He even stated so in a tone that told me that he meant it, rather than his usual, scripted tone. You know what I'm talking about. The same tone that accompanies phrases such as, "Nah, your ass didn't change at all with this pregnancy".

Pumpkin didn't like the way that the breading fell off the chicken when she pinched it. Once that happened, she refused to actually taste it. Instead, she had a time-out for blowing spit bubbles at me, then returned to the kitchen to eat a banana. That's actually an example of a good eating night.

I thought it was quite tasty. Although my house smelled like fermenting garbage as a result of steaming something as vile as broccoli, the other ingredients hid most of it's disgusting flavour, which I was able to totally finish off by using a honey mustard dip.

Chichi sat in her swing and said, "Ack!", which I think translates to, "What's the deal with the fermenting garbage???"

This gourmet meal was inspired by the pressure to sit down to dinner as a family, which, according to the media, will increase my childrens chances of having a bright future, and be less likely to use drugs. Whatever. I am personally more likely to abuse alcohol after these attempts to get Pumpkin to sit still and actually eat.

Kids are Icky

This past week, Pumpkin:

• Peed on the new couch
• Peed in several pairs of underwear
• Pooed in several pairs of underwear
• Smeared her lunch all over the counter, then licked it up
• Chewed her hair, her sleeve, her jacket zipper, her blanket...
• Stuck a finger in each of her nostrils at the same time
• After doing the double nose pick, she grabbed a food storage container that I was using
• Ate sand
• Made spit bubbles and let them dribble all over the house

She's really gross!

Found Kitten

Yesterday a man from a nearby business knocked on my door to see if I owned the stray cat that he found. I'm guessing it was the same cat that came by my yard earlier this evening. It didn't actually act like a stray as it was quite docile, playing the way that a house cat would play. It had no collar, and may have been dumped around here seeing as we live near a conservation area. Hubby played with it a bit, but we couldn't take it in due to my allergies, and also because of one of my dogs who would probably attack it. It parked itself on my front step for the rest of the evening and even tried to get into the house. My SIL happened to be over for dinner tonight with her husband. They are almost never here for dinner. They are cat people. They left with the cat in a Hewlett Packard box. Is that the universe taking care of business or what? They already have two cats and aren't looking for another, so they are hoping that they can find someone who can take it in. If you're in the market for a cute black & white kitty....

This and That

My mom is home. YAY! I did survive her being on vacation for two weeks, but I'm glad she's back. I managed ok without the extra help during the weekdays, but I never got used to being so constrained. Maybe if given more time, I would have ventured out regardless. I wasn't completely home-bound, but I certainly went out less than usual. Chichi just isn't the type of baby to be content in her stroller for long periods of time, so I couldn't visualize us all hitting a book store or coffee shop, or any place where I need to keep Pumpkin on good behaviour while trying to keep Chichi happy at the same time. Even walks are iffy. Ma has a five week vacation coming up in a couple of months, so chances are that I'll get out there on my own eventually, screaming kids and all.

So after hanging around my own house and yard this week, I discovered that we have to move. We have a garden in the back yard that I have never tended to so it has become a haven for whatever wants to live in weeds and ground cover. Yesterday Pumpkin was jumping around in there and came out running towards me shouting, "That's a nice snake!" Huh? Snake? I went over to take a peak and saw not one but two snakes slithering away from Pumpkin's footprints. One of them was about two feet long! Maybe this isn't creeping you out the way it creeps me out, but I'm not lovin' sharing my space with things that slither. I think I did the wrong thing and told Pumpkin not to go back into that area because snakes bite. Now she will probably have a phobia, but isn't it useful to be afraid of snakes?

In renovation news, don't take my lack of reporting about it to mean that it isn't happening. After Chichi was born, everyone slowed down since meeting the baby deadline was no longer a concern. The wheels also fell of a little when the plastering was contracted out to hubby's friends instead of someone who does plastering for a living. There were a lot of touch-ups and repairs that are sort of finished. Now the carpenter has done his part, and I will be able to see the light at the end if the electricians show up this week. Get it? Light? Electricians? We are officially in the home-stretch. I don't want to post any photos now as I'm saving myself for the finished product. We're actually going to get to use our family room before 2009!

Hmmmmm, I'm racking my brain for something to post about but when you don't go out or watch anything but the Treehouse channel for a week, the pickings are kinda slim.

Week-End Update

I need to start out by saying that I am not panicking or stressing out. I'm just trying to work out the logistics here. As you may or may not know, I now have two kids. You also may or may not know that my mother has been here to help me out pretty much everyday since the second one came along. Well, my mom had enough nerve to take a two week vacation, and now I am handling the two kids by myself most of the time. So far things are fine, but I'm just trying to get used to my lack of freedom. I can't just dart out the door for a quick errand, or a physio appointment, or a hair appointment, or a pedicure, or a lunch date, or.... I can't find much time to blog either, not that I was finding much before, but now I'm forced to actually do household chores in my free minutes as I never know when the next opportunity will arrive. Overall, I like being spoiled. The real world sucks. I want my mommy back.

I'm not sure if Pumpkin is acting out against Chichi's arrival, or Grandma being away, or if she is just a bonafide brat, but she is sapping my energy. I find that I am uttering threats and issuing time-outs all day long now. She is either disobeying me, or tormenting the dogs, or both, and neither are acceptable. I'm fairly harmless, but the dogs could cause some real damage if they wanted to. I'm so used to reprimanding her that I'm even correcting the behaviour of other people's children, which may or may not be appreciated by the other mothers. Regretfully, I only signed her up for three days a week of school, when five would have been more beneficial for both of us. I feel bad about the type of days that we are having together as she makes me angry, I am being no fun, and Pumpkin is always asking me to smile, which means she isn't enjoying the constant scowl on my face either. I need playdates, people! All applications will be accepted!

In doggie news, we've got another sick one. Taz was acting more lethargic than usual so we ordered him a wellness test. We found that his platelet level was dangerously low, and that there was a wonky reading on one of his liver enzymes. We had to deal with the platelets first as he could have bled to death very easily with such a low level. Next we had to have an ultrasound to figure out what was up with the liver, and it looks like he has some sort of liver disease. We are going to do a biopsy, but it's likely that the drugs from the platelet problem will obscure the biopsy interpretation. This is par for the course for our dogs. So far, we've dealt with optic neuritis, a tumour, pannus, epilepsy, canine athlete's foot, and now the latest episode. I guess you might say that our dogs are survivors, and that they cost lots. I am hopeful that everything will be ok in the end. Keep your paws crossed.

So, it's all fun 'n games over here at casa Mac & Cheese. To leave you on an up-note: