Meal Solutions--cheap ones!

Bad economy, spend less, blah, blah, blah....

There have been a LOT of articles out there about how to make simple changes--specifically in the food budget--to save your family some money. I am embarrassed to admit that, despite having one extremely FRUGAL mother, I don't take advantage of a LOT of the stuff I learned from her. Why? Because I'm LAZY. There, I said it! Happy?

The sad truth is that even though I KNOW that if I cut coupons and create a weekly meal plan and make a list ahead of time, blah, blah, blah I'll save OODLES of money at the grocery store, I hardly ever do it. Because it EXHAUSTS me. Over and over and over again. It's like laundry or cleaning the house--it always HAS to be done, and it's a task that is NEVER finished. And cooking is such a chore anyway since except for Pizza Fridays (oh, thank heavens for Pizza Fridays!), there is very rarely a day in which all five of us will eat what I've cooked. I'm lucky to get TWO of the five to eat--and honestly, I'm a semi-decent cook. So planning ahead for five people and trying to bring in variety so that we don't get scurvy and die of pizza boredom is a bit DAUNTING. Oh--and I'm LAZY.


BUT: here is ONE somewhat easy, cost-saving step that I almost accidentally tripped over, and it actually WORKS for my family.

My boyfriend Danny (Wegman, that is) carries those super-saver big packs of meat. I don't always indulge as 1) Not all five of us will eat it, so half of it'll go to waste, 2) I've got a tiny freezer (currently stuffed with pizzas and last year's Halloween chocolate that Mary has surprisingly not found yet), so not a lot of room to store the stuff, 3) Storing it takes WORK to separate and put in freezer bags and hello! LAZY!, 4) John does NOT like frozen meat, so if he even catches a HINT that it came out of the EVIL, only-good-for-making-ice-cubes portion of our fridge, he refuses to eat it, 5) And um...well, I'm SURE there was a 5, but...well....YOU GET THE POINT!

Anyway, I have discovered that on MOST nights I make it, MOST everybody WILL eat pork. (Who knew, right?) I've got a great recipe (again, another present from my boyfriend Danny) for baked pork chops with balsamic vinegar. And you just wouldn't believe it, but the whole gang eats it!

SO: I go to Danny's, buy the huge pack of BONELESS pork chops--eight in a pack. And on the first night, I make about five of these:


Balsamic Pork Chops
4 bone-in, center cut pork chops, 3/4 in thick (about 1 1/2 lbs). (Yeah, I use 5 boneless)
2 T Extra Virgin Olive Oil
2 tsp fresh rosemary, chopped, or 1 tsp dried (or none if feeling lazy)
1/4 C Balsamic Vinegar

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
1. Place pork chops on a baking dish and rub each chop with 1/2 tsp EVOO and season with
salt and pepper. (Or just quickly drizzle a bit on each chop, 'cause who wants to measure?)
2. Bake 15 to 20 minutes or until only a trace of pink.
3. Remove from oven and sprinkle with rosemary and balsamic vinegar. Return to oven for 2
minutes.

NOTE: To serve juicy, tender and safe pork at home, Wegmans recommends cooking to an
internal temp of 160 degrees....(Which always takes my oven MORE than the recommended
15-20 minutes--wonder if it's because I use boneless? Or if it's because I need a new oven?).

200 calories per serving.
Total fat 12g
blah, blah, blah.

OK. We have enjoyed our pork chop dinner. Usually I only have about a half of one left (the boy is the biggest pork eater and may not leave leftovers). So, usually two days later, I grab the rest of the chops left in my super-saver bag, and do the unthinkable--I make ANOTHER meal out of them!

Pork Stir Fry!
I chop the chops into one-inch pieces, season and flour them, and I stir-fry them quickly in the wok. I then throw in a bag of frozen stir-fry veggies and some terriaki or Kikoman or stir-fry sauce (whatever I have around). I make a big batch of brown rice ('cause I'm all nerdy and healthy like that)--and that's it! Easy to make, and the kids usually find SOMETHING in that big batch of meat/veggies that they like and will pick out to eat.

See--two easy meals with ONE meat purchase. And now I only have four other meals to dream up for that week (cuz, Pizza Friday is ALWAYS a given)!

Bark at the Moon

Another busy weekend, of course. Saturday, after we finished picking up the Scout donation bags and dropping them off (John with Keith; Me with Mary and Izzy), we went out to lunch, got food for our one remaining bunny, looked at other really, really cute bunnies that John and I HARSHLY had to say NO to getting, and then we went to see Monsters Vs. Aliens (pretty good!). We ended the evening by taking the kids to the Golden Arches to buy them a chocolate shake for dinner.

What?

Sunday was, well, a DISASTER. Because, Mean Old Mom demanded that the chores get done again. And honstly, I've been working REAL HARD to control my temper, but something about my son's attitude combined with the phases of the moon completely set me OFF. I didn't even have them do their usual list of chores--just a couple of things that really, really needed to get done. Keith spent the whole day avoiding work and then whining and crying when we caught him at it. I finally put John in charge of him so that I could remove my hot-headedness for a while. And he pulled the same crap with John. (Although John held his temper better.) NOT a good day.

Then yesterday he tells us that he got in trouble THREE TIMES at school THAT DAY. That kid hardly EVER gets in trouble (...at school...*cough*). So...at least now I know it's not just me--he's doing this crap with EVERYBODY. (Still didn't need to lose my temper like I did on Sunday, though.)

Must be spring fever.

And...John and I have started the search for a dog. Yes, a dog! I'm excited and worried all at the same time. Our choices are limited because, like the Obamas, we have to get a hypo-allergenic dog. So, we're looking into a miniature Schnauzer. After some diligent internet searching, John did find a local breeder. The price is a TAD higher than I really wanted to pay for a dog--but since the alternative is for me to get allergy shots, I guess I shouldn't complain too much. Anyway, John and I are still trying to decide if we can afford this, and how to work out day-time potty breaks, and where to KEEP the dog, and if maybe we should just forget the whole thing and wait another year or two.... I dunno.... But if this breeder decides to sell us a pup, she's got two litters due in April, so we could have one in the house as early as June/July. Eep!

Bah!

John and I have put off our "curtain date" three days now. So, today, when my back-up needed me to wait until 1:00 for my lunch, and I hadn't heard from John yet about a possible date, I said, "Fine."

Next thing I know, he's calling me at 12:00 to say he's out front.

*sigh*

In my defense, he TEXTED me at ten to 12:00 to say he was coming. Well, my phone is in my coat pocket, so I didn't hear it. And by THAT TIME I'd already been assigned the later lunch, anyway.

:-(

Where Was I?

Friday

• I splurged and bought myself a radio alarm clock which docks my ipod. I think that for the first time since I got the darn thing, I may actually start using it!


• Of course, the music on it has been there for over two years now. And I keep having to forward through inappropriate music since I'm at work--and most of the songs on the "Natural Born Killers" and "South Park" soundtracks just MIGHT be frowned upon here.

Saturday

• I walked around with my son delivering donation bags for Cub Scouts.



• Did some of the housework.



• Took son to a birthday party in the same neighborhood where we'd delivered bags that morning.



• So frustrated with my horrible housekeeping, decided to buy new curtains and blinds for bathrooms and bedrooms--GROSS!



• John and I took all three kids to the mall--and remembered why we haven't bought new curtains YET. The hide-and-seek possibilities of the draperies department prevents our ever getting to actually LOOK. (John and I made a "date" to look them over during one of our lunch hours this week.)



• Except for the ice cream, trip to the mall was a complete waste of time!

Sunday

• MORE housework. My kids think they are Cinderella, and I'm the wicked step-mom. I completely get where they are coming from. But I can't figure out how to share the work load equally so that it actually GETS DONE, and it's not ALL done by ME.
  


• Twilight's funeral. :-( He is buried in one of our landscaped areas, underneath a beautiful tree. And we put down my garden bunny--received last Mother's Day--as his marker.



• Distribution of bags with the GS troop in a different neighborhood. (Why is it that no troops ever do OUR neighborhood?)



• Meeting with other GS leaders to plan next overnight event. Which I found out Friday is scheduled at the same time as Mary and Keith's next Suzuki concert.



• Get home to panic of WHAT'S FOR DINNER? I never made it to the grocery store. Scrape together a casserole with chicken, cream of mushroom soup, sour cream, broccoli, rice, and stuffing on top. Delicious. Keith and I were the only ones who ate it. And he refused to eat the broccoli and rice portion of it. (Oh well, more leftovers for me!)


• Decide to let Keith start using the shower downstairs. The upstairs bathroom just doesn't have enough towel racks for all five of us, and I'm tired of picking up towels off the floor. He's excited to have a shower "all his own." After the shower, I walk downstairs to find all of his clothes on the floor--and his towel. There is no laundry basket. He can't reach the towel rack.


• One of the times I had to get up to check on Izzy last night, I actually stumbled back to bed, and fell on my husband. I didn't know he was there. (VERY groggy.) I think the possibility of our having any more children just got "fixed."

This morning

• I couldn't get out of bed. (Two kids moaning/whining all night will do that to you.)


• After repeated requests to Izzy to get her socks/shoes/coat on, ended up marching her out to the car without the coat on. She wasn't happy. Neither was I!

R.I.P. Twilight

Poor Mary's little bunny Twilight passed on yesterday. We can't really say what the cause of death was, but it was quite a shock to Mary to find him when she went downstairs to play with him and brush his coat.

It was a very, very sad and weepy household last night. Keith was also upset about the loss of his bunny's brother (and feeling, for perhaps the first time, his OWN immortality). Izzy--well, she doesn't have the emotional capacity or attention span to handle something like this yet. She was upset at first--and then she kept going around matter-of-factly bellowing out around the house in her BIG voice, "Twilight DIED!" which would upset her big sister even more.

I made the grand gesture to our sad daughter and let her sleep in our bed with us last night.

Now that the shock has worn off, Mary's doing a little better. She drew a picture for him and pinned it on his empty cage. She wore a dress today in honor of him. And she is requesting that we bury him underneath the tree in the front yard (we are still pondering if that is the best location).

The good news is that Mary was already asking about a new pet last night. A mouse? A hamster? But NOT another bunny. We told her we would take some time to heal from this wound--and take care of Twilight's brother Brownie--before we moved on to a new pet.

John and I have been going back and forth over getting a dog for the last few months, anyway. And looking into non-allergenic breeds so that I don't have to have shots. Perhaps this summer we'll finally take the plunge--and find a replacement for our dear Mary's Twilight.

(Bunny NOT named after Vampire books--which Mary has never even HEARD of.)

Whew!

Well, I survived my weekend of single parenthood AND numerous activities--including a GS overnight on Saturday night. I would just like to take a moment here to thank my neighbors--who are the BEST. PEOPLE. EVER.--for watching Keith and Izzy while I went and played GS leader to 13 girls in Niagara, NY.

CRAZY! I TELL YOU!!

It was a fun time. So much fun that Mary was CRYING Sunday night because she wanted to go back to the Aquarium (and because she was very, very tired, poor girl). Indeed, it took until Tuesday night for either one of us to start feeling perky again--and that's with actually getting decent sleep Saturday night.

This weekend won't be much better--well, except for having the extra pair of my husband's hands around. Saturday is a Cub Scout event, continuing swim lessons for all three, and a birthday party (wondering if we'll be able to fit it all in?). Sunday is another GS event AND a GS leader's meeting to PLAN yet ANOTHER outing. It NEVER ENDS, I tell ya!

And now that nice weather is peeking through (Aaaaaaaahhhhhhh), I'm hoping to get the girls on their NEW BIKES on Sunday. If it doesn't rain. If I'm not dog-tired after all the activities and up to my eyeballs in laundry--like every OTHER Sunday. Ah well--we'll TRY, anyway!

And...just a quick note that I won! I won AGAIN! Mommy Daisy is my hero, and I've been peeking in my mailbox ever-so-patiently every day.... Maybe TODAY?!

St. Baldrick's Foundation

A co-worker is helping organize a fundraiser for St. Baldrick's. No, she's not shaving her head (her daughter said, "Mom, you NEED your hair!")! But she wanted to help out, so she's organizing the event and collecting donations for OTHERS who ARE shaving their heads.

Julie lost a special godson to cancer on November 1 (just weeks after his fourth birthday), so she's pretty passionate about this cause.

Here at work, we were able to get permission to wear jeans on St. Patrick's Day if we donated $5. What a great idea!

I thought I'd throw this out there for her.... If anyone has a few extra bucks lying around (Go take your coins in to that machine at the grocery store! Turn in your pop bottles and send us the receipts!) and want to donate, lemme know. OK?

Here're some links:

Julie's St. Baldrick's event.

Brandon's webpage

Thank you! :-)

The CRAZINESS

John went out of town for his semi-annual fantasy sports guys' weekend. Once again, leaving me HOME ALONE with three kids and the realization that no, I would NOT like to be a single parent, thank-you-very-much!

There is a LOT of stuff going on this weekend (let's just say it was a POOR weekend for him to go away), and I'm going completely NUTS trying to keep track of 1) where my kids are 2) who's watching them when and WHERE and 3) what event we have to go to and 4) at what TIME does it start?

My co-workers keep giving me funny looks as I keep talking to myself to try to KEEP TRACK OF IT ALL.

Seriously, this is NUTS, y'all!

I am also FINALLY at a point where I'm HAPPY we decided to have only three children. 'Cause having to keep track of JUST ONE MORE kid on days like these would surely cause my brain to EXPLODE.

And...on a happy note, Mommy Daisy just posted the chance to win yet another Shaun the Sheep DVD! And you all know ME--I'm just a sucker for DVDs with claymation characters with overbites! So! Pick me again--PLEASE! :-)

I won! I won!

I'm feeling the love from Mommy Daisy! And she hinted at another SHAUN THE SHEEP giveaway coming soon!!! OH MY!!

Smart Kids! SPOILED, too!

Today we had parent-teacher conferences for Mary and Keith--which means that we got their report cards last week. Yeah. Those two are SMART. And Mary is getting better (and not so frustrated) at math (she only missed two questions on the state-required tests). And Keith has suddenly turned mature "overnight" and started actually checking his work (we'll see if this sticks--and if he continues to improve on his organizational skills). Good report cards.

I've now lost count on how many days Izzy has stayed dry--and in her underwear, too! She finally seems to have kicked this!

So...since John is going to be out of town this weekend (Fantasy Baseball Draft--that time of year AGAIN?) and since Izzy was doing so well, we went ahead and took her to Build A Bear last Sunday. And since the other two's report cards were so good, and since they were begging and pleading with those sorrowful eyes, we got them each another one, too. (IF I ever promise a BAB trip again--only the promised one gets to go!)

But we drew the line at buying the critters clothes. I mean, seriously--those toys are EXPENSIVE! Especially that @#$% black lab Izzy picked out! Take your critter and BE HAPPY, you three!! (They were.)


Um, anyway, we had an enjoyable trip to the mall and wished every Sunday could be so pleasant....

Wallace and Grommett giveaway!

My buddy MommyDaisy is having another wonderful giveaway! This time it's for Wallace and Grommett movies! I'm all a-dither!

Hesitantly Triumphant

Izzy has passed her previous record from last summer of 3 dry nights in a row! (Hmmm...apparently I was too busy to post about our attempt last summer. Let's just say that after three nights dry and then several days of lots and lots of washing of sheets/comforters I finally mailed it in and put her back in her pull-ups at night.)

Izzy has now been dry 11 nights out of the last 13. ELEVEN!! I got brave and started putting her in underwear instead of her pull-ups the other night. First night was "oops" #2 (we're giving her a mulligan), but last night she made it through the night with the real undies!

DON'T ASK ME how this has come about. We haven't done anything really different that's we've done for the last two years. We've just been talking to her until we're blue in the face about it. We've "casually" tried getting her to go to the bathroom if she wakes up in the middle of the night (last night was the first night she didn't turn over and roll herself up into an even tighter, little sleepball)--we never forced her. We've been insistent on her using the bathroom before she lays down--even if she just went a half an hour ago. We did promise a bribe of a trip to Build A Bear if she stayed dry for 30 nights. (I know! It's a long time! But we ARE setting up mini-goals: candy every three days; a little stuffed animal at the week's point; she'll get something else small if she makes it to this weekend.... The Build A Bear is the ULTIMATE, YOU NAILED IT Reward. Keith is keeping a tally. I think Izzy is more excited about the tally marks growing than the BAB at the end of it.)

When we saw the pediatrician, she suggested that we not give Izzy any liquids after 6:00. Well, considering that now we don't even eat dinner most nights until almost 6:30, that's not too feasible for us. But she doesn't get anything after dinner. However if she wants a quick drink before bed (or an hour after she's gone to bed), we don't say NO. I mean, it's dry in our house, so isn't it kind of cruel to deny a kid a drink of water? So, we just make sure it's not a LOT--just a couple of drinks.

Other than that--this is all just TIMING. It seems that THIS is the time her body decided to finally cooperate. WHY it took so much longer than with the other two, I don't know. What is finally triggering her, I don't know. Whether or not this will become permanent or an occasional night-time accident for a while longer or a false hope than regression back to pull-ups, I DON'T KNOW.

All I know is, I'm happy that I may be DONE buying pull-ups, hurriedly washing sheets in the middle of the night, and worrying about whether or not she'll still be peeing the bed when she gets to college.

We'll see....