Monday is NOT a Fun Day

Yesterday was one of those days when I probably should have just gotten back into bed as soon as I got up in the morning...and I totally would have, if that had been an option.  I had grand plans to get a lot accomplished--namely, uncovering the house because it looks like a Tazmanian Devil has swirled his way through the living room and kitchen.  Mondays are my days for de-cluttering, according to the Cleaning Schedule, but there's so much clutter built up from the weekend that I wasn't sure I could accomplish that goal and the 50 other things that needed to get done.  I started with getting laundry in the washing machine (after sending Abby out the door in the rain with Dan to catch the bus), and I was feeling decent about getting that chore started early so that I could focus on clearing out the junk all over the floor and counters from the weekend.  We had a busy, fun weekend...which was great, but come Monday morning, the boys and I were definitely fun-ed out--aka, exhausted and cranky.  They were hitting and screaming at each other, and not sharing more than usual--and I was barely awake, on a mission to get my stuff done, and not wanting to deal with their stuff.  It was ugly--I wasn't getting much done because I was putting out fires between them every five seconds (and dust busting cereal off the floor...grrr...), and there was lots of yelling out of all three of us.

not happening yesterday...

I managed to get lunch on the table at a decent, early time--which is totally crucial for Monday success since Abby has dance class and I need Alex up from his nap early in order to get her to class on time.  Dan even came home at the tail end of lunch and helped me corral the boys into their rooms for nap and quiet time.  Of course, getting lunch on the table at a decent time does not ensure getting Alex down for his nap at a decent time--it usually helps, but he managed to mess up the timeframe yesterday by refusing to eat his lunch (and just generally being crazy slow about all of it) and also by taking forever in the bathroom before nap.  It was after 1pm when I got him down, which is tight when I'm trying to get out the door for dance class by 3:45pm.  Dan was still here, so he and I pow-wowed about the plan for the afternoon--he said he could actually get Abby at 3:50pm, drive her to dance class, and pick her up for me so that I wouldn't have to drag everyone out in the rain...perfect!  Dan went back to work, and I had about 2 hours to get my stuff done.  First on my list was more laundry (had to get delicates out of the dryer...my least favorite part of the laundry process, other than folding!), and then my stomach was growling, so I made myself some lunch and sat down for a few minutes.  I had just finished eating when Jake called because he needed to go to the bathroom--and while I was upstairs with him, I heard my alarm go off on my phone indicating that Abby's bus would be arriving soon.  I dismissed the alarm when I came back downstairs--I had asked her to walk home from the bus stop since I knew Alex would be sleeping (Mondays are her early-out day, so it always conflicts with naptime), so I had some extra time to get a few more things done before I stood outside and watched her bus drop her.  I always watch her get off the bus and walk all the way home--it just gives me peace of mind to know that she's in my sight the whole way.

My mom called to talk to me about stuff for Abby's upcoming birthday party--she was at the store and had some questions about what I needed her to pick up for me.  I chatted with her while pulling up the recipe for the crock pot meal I was fixing for dinner (Sesame Ginger Chicken), and started thinking about the prep for getting the pot going--it was already almost 2pm!  I was off the phone and prepping food stuff for dinner when I heard a noise at our front door--the mail slot, which I thought was odd, because the mail had already come for the day.  I panicked that somehow Jake had gotten out of his room and was attempting an escape out the front door--I was on my way to investigate when I heard a little knock on the front door and I realized my failure...  Abby was at the front door, which was locked, after having walked home unsupervised from the bus!  I felt awful--I've never done that before, and with the creepy stuff happening at her school two weeks ago, I totally should have been more vigilant with my sweet girl.  I can't believe I got wrapped up in other stuff and forgot one of my most important duties of the day!  Ugh.  I just felt awful.  She came in and we chatted about her day at school, and then she had a snack and read to me from her chapter book while I again attempted to get something in the crock pot.  I had the chicken prepped with carrots in the pot, and turned it on shortly after 2:30pm...and then I perused the rest of the recipe.  Crap--it called for cooking it on high for an hour, then switching the pot down to low for 2+ more hours...before draining the liquid, adding veggies, and cooking for another 45 minutes or so.  The draining and whatnot would have to happen around 5:30pm--smack in the middle of my step class.  Obviously this is not a good meal to make on a night when I have an exercise class--because either Dan has to handle those last steps (draining and adding all the veggies), or we eat really late.  Neither option is great.  This week is my last week for the aerobic program I've been doing here, because the 10-week session is coming to an end, and I'm fairly certain I'm not signing up for the next session because of Dan's changing work schedule.  I called Dan at work, totally frustrated with myself for the poor planning, and hashed out a new plan for our evening:  he would come home at 3:50pm, at which time I would take Abby to dance class and then head over to the pool to swim laps for about 45 minutes, before running back over to the dance studio and picking Abby up at the end of her class.  Then I would be home around 5:15pm, and be able to handle the last few steps of the dinner prep so that we could eat around 6pm.  I was okay with skipping my final step class--a little bummed about it, but at least I was replacing it with some exercise, and it was what worked for my family last night.

sometimes I have so many browsers open, I crash

So that meant I had to prep all the veggies for the pot, get Abby ready for dance class, and get myself ready for the pool in the next 25 minutes--I flew through everything I needed to do, and was just putting the finishing touches on Abby's ballerina bun when Dan walked in the door.  Maybe I was going to pull off this crazy day after all!  Of course, just as Abby and I open the front door, the sky opened up and sheets of rain start pouring down.  She grabbed her umbrella, but I got soaked on the way to the car--I figured it didn't really matter since I was about to get in the pool anyway.  We drove in extremely low visibility to her dance studio and sloshed our way inside...we were both soaked.  My pants were wet all the way to my knees.  I scooted her to her classroom, only to discover that the lights were out...what?  Earlier in the day, another mom had emailed our class to ask if dance class was still on for the day--things had gotten confused because Monday was supposed to be "theater day" (just a regular dance class, but held in the theater to get the kids used to the space and more comfortable on the stage prior to their recital) to prep for this weekend's recital, but then the recital had to be relocated and the new location didn't allow for a theater day...  I had emailed the coordinator last week to make sure there was no theater day (there was never any communication about it), and she confirmed that there would be no theater day.  I just assumed that even though they couldn't practice in the recital venue, they would still have their regular dance class.  So I helpfully responded to the whole class email list that I believed we did have class...  Um, I was so wrong.  Other moms were now ushering their girls in from the driving rain (including a mom on crutches--I felt so terrible!) based on my erroneous assumption.  Ugh--I'm just going to assume that all the class moms now hate me, and I'm sure that's a correct assumption.  Back through the flooded parking lot to our car we went, and I dropped Abby at home before heading out to the pool as I had planned.  I got in the water and tried to shake off the bad day--the water felt good, and I was determined to get a comparable workout to my usual Monday step class.  I swam more than half a mile in about 40 minutes, and then I headed back home to tackle dinner.

I got home around 5:15pm, and went straight for the crock pot.  After my previous attempt at a crock pot meal when I discovered that I had neglected to plug the pot in, I was vigilant about making sure that I had set everything up correctly yesterday.  I had--everything was plugged in, the pot was on low, and I was ready to dump the juices and put the veggies in before grabbing a quick shower.  Only when I went to lift the pot out, I noticed that the chicken didn't look cooked at all--and upon touching the pot itself, I noted that it was cold.  Not hot, not warm, just plain old cold.  I was so confused--I checked the plug, which was securely in the outlet, and then I took the crock out and turned the pot upside down to see if the cord had somehow gotten severed.  I was convinced that my pot was broken, because turning the dial from Low to High did nothing.  I was distraught--my dinner was ruined, and so was my crock pot.  Before throwing the whole thing away, I remembered that I used to have problems with oulets in our house in Texas--when the GFCI breaker on the wall outlet pops, none of the outlets on that circuit will work until you push the GFCI button again.  I looked around the kitchen, and sure enough, there was a GFCI outlet--and depressing the button made my crock pot outlet work.  I had done everything right--I had no idea that the outlet wasn't working.  Ugh.  Poor Dan had to go out and grab Subway for dinner, because he was starving and didn't want to wait another 3 hours for dinner.  I didn't blame him.  I was dejected when I went upstairs to shower--what a totally poor effort I had made for the day.  I missed my step class for a dinner that I didn't even make, I took Abby to a dance class that didn't exist, and I forgot to watch my girl get off the bus.  Not to mention, I hadn't picked up any clutter in the house!

this one is just plain depressing!

Dinner didn't get any better--the kids were having leftovers from our dinner out with Dan's parents on Sunday night, and even though it was stuff they loved, they still managed to scream and cry and fuss about it.  Jake likes to make a huge mess and then laugh--he spills applesauce and yogurt everywhere, like a baby instead of a 4.5-year-old.  Alex refused to eat his macaroni because I gave him an orange spoon instead of a blue spoon (seriously?).  At one point in the chaos, I told the kids that I just can't wait until they all grow up and turn 18 and move out of the house so that Dan and I can have a meal without screaming--to which Abby hurtfully responded that parents aren't supposed to say stuff like that to their kids (she's most likely right...), and Alex started crying even more hysterically because he wants Mommy to go with him when he moves out.  Seriously.  I mentally checked out at that point and began cutting coupons--because I was done with my dinner and the coupon inserts were part of the clutter I needed to clear off the table.  The kids kept screaming, and I told them that I was on the verge of becoming scary--they just laughed at me.  They were not understanding the gravity of the situation (ie, my imminent mental breakdown) until I told them that they probably didn't want to make me angry while I had scissors in my hand--and if they didn't all quiet down and eat their dinners, I would be taking those scissors to all their favorite possessions.  I told Jake I would figure out how to cut up his trains (probably not possible, but it would be the effort that counted), and I told Alex that he had better eat that macaroni with his orange spoon or his beloved Lamby might meet my scissors.  It was a stellar parenting moment--thankfully, I don't think anyone believed me, but it did scare them enough that they finally finished their food without me having to resort to further threats.  For the record, I would never cut Alex's precious Lamby or Jake's trains (or anything else important to my kids!)...it was just one of those days.

I have three kids, so my mind is especially lost

Wow, writing all that out makes me feel like a really bad parent!  It was an epic failure of a day on so many fronts.  Notes to self:  Get more sleep, don't set unrealistic goals for your day when you know the children will derail you at every possible turn, don't forget your children at the bus stop, don't take your kids to activities they don't have, maybe you're not cut out for using a crock pot since you seem to screw it up more often than not, and don't threaten to take scissors to your children's prized possessions...no matter how bad the day is.  On the bright side, Abby is done with dance, so my Mondays will be slightly easier for the next two weeks until school is out!  And at least I already have dinner prepped for tonight...kudos to me for finding a few silver linings in the black clouds over my entire day yesterday.  :)

Crock Pot Pulled Chicken Sandwiches

I haven't had my crock pot out in a while (or done much cooking the last few weeks--for some reason, it feels like things have been crazy!), so I flipped through my recipes Monday night to find something good to make for Tuesday's dinner.  I asked Dan if he wanted me to make a repeat recipe--like the Brown Sugar Chicken he really liked, or maybe the Lemon Chicken that I thought was fantastic.  He picked Brown Sugar Chicken, but then a recipe for Pulled Chicken Sandwiches caught my eye--I hadn't tried it yet, because I never think ahead to buy sandwich buns.  I happen to have some awesome bakery buns on hand right now because we picked some up at the farmer's market on Sunday, so this is the perfect week to try the recipe!  I asked Dan if he thought Pulled Chicken sounded good, and he said, "That sounds great--but can you do that?"  My skeptical husband still isn't used to a cooking, trying-new-things kind of wife.  :)  I said, "Duh--I can do anything!" and it was settled.

This was the first recipe I've made that is NOT from the woman who used her crock pot every day for a year, so I was a little nervous about it.  I found the recipe here, and it had good reviews, so I decided to go for it.  I wanted to modify the recipe a little bit because I didn't have a can of Diet Pepsi on hand--and I have read that using diet sodas while cooking can be dangerous because aspertame is unstable when heated up.  I'm not sure if that's true, but I don't really want to blow up my kitchen, so I asked Dan if he could grab some regular Pepsi while he was on his coffee run on Tuesday, and he dropped it by the house.  As soon as I got the boys down for their naps, I started--I put two breasts of chicken in the bottom of the crock pot (too much for our little family, especially considering that I had no idea if the kids would eat any of it??  but I thawed two breasts, so in they went!), put in about 2.5 tablespoons of chopped onions (the recipe called for one large onion chopped, but I used dry chopped onion flakes and just eyeballed the amount...not sure if I'm a good eyeballer when it comes to cooking, but I went with it!), put in 3 tablespoons of brown sugar and 1/2 cup of regular Heinz ketchup.  I poured a whole can of Pepsi over the other ingredients and the chicken in the pot, and stirred everything up pretty well before turning the pot on.

Pepsi...who would have thought?

I wasn't getting started on dinner until 2pm, so instead of putting my pot on low for 6 hours, I put it on high for an hour, and then moved it down to low for the next 2 hours.  It was 5pm at that point, so I took the chicken out and shredded it on a plate:

shredded chicken--very moist!

I spooned out some of the onion chunks before I put the shredded chicken back in...while it was cooking, I had second thoughts about putting that much onion in the pot!  I probably scooped out about 1/2 tablespoon's worth, so I think I ended up with about 2 tablespoons of onions in the final product.  I thought the sauce looked really runny, so I added 2 tablespoons of cornstarch and stirred the sauce up really well--and then I put the shredded chicken back in and cooked it for another 50 minutes while Dan sauteed some veggies to go with the sandwiches.

just finished cooking--looks good!

Here's my plate before I closed up my sandwich and dug in!

looks good!

Dan and I both enjoyed the sandwiches--Dan actually went back for a second sandwich.  :)  Abby enjoyed her sandwich as well, and I didn't even try with Alex--I made him a peanut butter and jelly sandwich!  We just got him to eat a turkey sandwich this past Sunday (yes, you read that correctly--Alex ate meat!), so I didn't want to risk putting him off sandwiches again...  Jake was super excited about the sandwich because he wanted to eat the bread that we got at the farmer's market--he happily picked up his sandwich and took a big bite...and promptly started screaming.  I thought it must have been too hot, so I told him to let it cool down and try again.  By the time it was cool enough to try again, he informed me that he wouldn't eat the sandwich because it was "disgusting."  He had only had one hot bite--I wasn't buying his excuse, and I had endless patience for some reason...I let the kid scream throughout the entire dinner, took some video and pictures of him crying (because I'm a mean, mean mommy...and because I am going to show him when he's 20 years old how miserable he used to make our meals), and prodded him politely but incessantly to take more bites.  He ended up eating 2/3rds of his sandwich, under much duress, but the screaming did eventually calm down to a whimper near the end.  We had a good talk (after everyone else had left the table to start baths) about how Mommy is going to cook lots of different things, and it's important that he always tries what I make, and that even if it's not really his favorite, he needs to eat it anyway because it's good for him and it's dinner...I'm not making him anything else.  He seemed to understand, but we'll have to wait until I make something else out of his comfort zone to test how much sunk in!  Cooking is hard to get excited about when you know dinner will be a screamfest...  I've finally figured out that it's not my cooking--it's totally this stubborn 4-year-old:

why do you make me eat delicious food, Mommy??

Overall, these sandwiches were super easy to make, the meat was moist, and the meal was good--it wasn't the most amazing thing I've ever eaten, but it'll probably be something I throw together again in the future because it was tasty and easy.  I may try it with an actual barbeque sauce next time, because this sauce was definitely not barbeque--it was more mild, for sure.  The meal was actually fairly healthy, which is a big bonus--with all the veggies on my plate and the snowflake roll, it was around 390 calories.  I have lots of leftover shredded chicken, too, so that will be great for lunch the next few days!

Are You Eating My Food?

From the blog title, you might think that I've gone a little hungry-nuts on folks for eating my precious, hard-to-come-by food.  Ha!  Despite my healthy eating Challenge, I'm not hungry (unless I stay up too late at night...but that's my own fault!), and I haven't resorted to calling people out for eating my food.  I'm actually pretty surprised that with all my diet modifications and the fact that I'm eating WAY less than I used to, I'm not hungry or grumpy or watching the clock for my next meal.  That just goes to show that prior to the Challenge, I was overeating--I ate out of boredom, stress, and sometimes just for fun.  Now that I'm being more conscientious about my food intake, I eat healthier foods and I don't eat too much--gone are the days of feeling so stuffed, I can't move!

okay, sometimes I feel this way when I can't have ice cream

This post thankfully isn't about me lashing out in hunger--it's about Alex and his terrible eating habits.  We call him Mr. Contrarian, about everything in his life (not just food)--he will happily tell us one thing, and then seconds later change his mind and be totally against his previous stance.  It's hard to know what he wants--"Mommy, can I have more milk?"  followed by screaming, "NO!!!  I DON'T WANT MILK!" when I hand him his cup 30 seconds later.  Who knows what is up with that child, but he makes mealtime extremely frustrating.  The other night, Dan and I were having leftovers, so I was just making simple stuff for the kids for dinner--Abby wanted leftover macaroni and cheese, Jake wanted a sandwich, and Alex said he wanted a peanut butter and jelly sandwich ("lots of them," in fact).  So I made the boys their sandwiches and reheated Abby's mac and cheese, and called everyone out to the table.  Alex took one look at his plate and screamed, "NO!  I DON'T WANT A SANDWICH!  I WANT NOODLES!"  Of course, I hadn't made any noodles, and he had specifically requested the sandwich.  I tried to calmly explain that I simply made what he asked me for, but with a 2-year-old, rationality doesn't usually win.  He was beside himself.  I was at my wits end.  I wished my dad was here sitting at the dinner table with us.

Granddaddy with Alex when he was born

My dad and Alex have a sweet, adorable bond with each other that goes all the way back to his newborn days.  Alex was The Worst Baby On the Planet--my poor mom and I would have to hear him screaming all day long while my dad was at work (Dan was deployed, so I was living with my parents).  Coupled with being just awful in terms of the constant screaming, Alex was also crazy adorable--such a weird dichotomy.  In the moments when he wasn't screaming (mostly those fleeting newborn sleeping times), he was super cute.  That dichotomy exists in his personality today--when he's not happy, you don't want to know him at all (screaming is still an issue, but now it's 2-year-old tantrum screaming...equally unpleasant), but when he's in a good mood, he could win over even the most kid-hating person in the world.  I am always told what a sweet, wonderful little guy he is--and I always respond with, "Yeah, he's cute--but you should see him when he's unhappy!"  (Perhaps I'm still harboring some bitterness over his terrible first 6 months of life?)  It's not always sunshine and rainbows with that kid.  Anyway, when Alex was a baby, my dad would come home from work after a long day to find him screaming in his portable swing in the kitchen while my mom and I were attempting to get the big kids ready for bed.  I swear my dad thought Alex was just neglected (I promise you, he was not!)--he would immediately scoop Alex up out of the swing and take him into the living room, where I would discover them quietly staring at each other, content and happy, after I finished getting Abby and Jake in bed.  It was so sweet to see my dad so taken with my son--he loves Abby and Jake to pieces, of course, but something special happened between him and Alex.

When we have big family dinners, I always put Alex next to my dad at the table--my dad has an uncanny ability to make that picky child eat whatever is on his plate.  I've always been envious of my dad's magical influence on Alex--I've never been able to replicate it at home.  His tricks aren't all that fancy--he's big on reverse psychology--but they work for Alex, and he always eats well at their house.  For the record, reverse psychology doesn't work at all on Abby and Jake!  Alex is very competitive (he loves to taunt the opposition), and his sense of humor is such that he seemingly enjoys when others are upset (that sounds horrible, doesn't it?  We're going to have to work on that!).  He laughs when I pretend to cry.  He withholds kisses just to see me pretend to cry.  He says, "Be sad, Mommy!" with a huge smile on his face like it's the best thing ever.  In the interest of full disclosure, I also have a darker sense of humor (my all-time favorite TV show was about a funeral home), and I tend to laugh inappropriately (Dan absolutely hates it because my first response when someone gets hurt is usually laughter...of course, I'm right there to mend any boo boos for the kids, but I do laugh at the physical comedy a bit...)--so Alex may get some of that from me.  My dad has used these personality traits to get Alex to eat his food, by declaring that all the food is "his food."  He'll say, "Alex, are you eating my bagel?  Don't eat my bagel!  No, that's my bagel!" and Alex will promptly gobble up the entire bagel while saying, "Look, Granddaddy--I'm eating your bagel!" in a taunting, sing-song voice.  He's a little punk!

my dad getting Alex to eat!

When I made that peanut butter and jelly sandwich for Alex the other night and he screamed about it, I thought about my dad.  I've tried the "are you eating my food?" trick before without success, but it had been a while...so I thought I would try again.  I said, "Alex, is that my sandwich?  I'm going to eat it!"  He immediately picked it up, said, "No, it's my sandwich, Mommy--I'm going to eat it!" and proceeded to eat the whole thing!  Abby looked at me with a little smile on her face and whispered, "Good one, Mommy!"  She was totally on to my game.  Yesterday, the "are you eating my food?" trick worked again at lunch time--Alex ate his whole bagel, a banana, and all his cantaloupe and honeydew.  The only thing he didn't eat was his strawberries, so I'm wondering if I can extend this trick to include foods he doesn't actually enjoy (like meat), or if it will only work for foods he's generally good about eating (if not in their entirety, like his bagel and melon).  The trick also worked at dinner last night--he gets a big kick out of saying, "Look, Mommy--I'm eating all your food all gone!"  Thanks for being such a trickster, Dad--it's helping me out with my obstinate child!