Party Hosting: could you do this for me?

Have you ever come to the realization the week before hosting a party that you have a TON to do? Yep, I'm right there. Somehow I managed to snag a free catered party from Qdoba, which is great because I don't have to cook, but now I need to clean. And finish the 100 lingering house projects. Shoot. So dear readers, if everyone could stop on by and do one of these tasks for me, I'd be forever grateful.

1. Finish recovering my couch pillows.
2. Clean my bathroom. And the rest of the house.
3. Sew a new valance for the kitchen.
4. Paint my bathroom.
5. Install the new light fixture in the bathroom.
6. Spot clean the bedroom carpets, specifically the spot in our bedroom where Lucan squeezed out a tube of foundation. (I love my child. I love my child. I love my child.)
7. Find hiding spots for all of Lucan's crap.
8. Create and hang a gallery wall in the kitchen.
9. Order pictures for #8.
10. Hose off the deck
11. Plant flowers in the deck hangers.
12. Mop hardwoods. Again. Then make Lucan eat outside for the rest of the week.
13. Clean out the garage.
14. Hound people who haven't RSVPd yet. C'mon people. I know our generation has no concept of what RSVP means, but let's try here :)
15. Come up with Mexican Cinco de Mayo decorations. Or decide to throw in the towel and call it "good enough."

Like I said, feel free to stop on by, complete one of these tasks and cross it off my to-do list.

Good gracious. This little Mexican man combines everything that is wrong about Cinco de Mayo and stereotypes. 

A Weekend Without Kids

Or in our case - "kid." But singular kid doesn't roll off the tongue quite as nicely :)

This past weekend Lance and I took our first weekend away from Lucan, who is almost two years old (side note: when did this happen?) We’ve been on money-saving mode and this was the first that we really felt like it would be okay to have this getaway.

Going away for a weekend was something that I was both looking forward to and something that I worried about too. Would Lucan be sad when he realized we were gone? Would my parents be able to keep up with our busy toddler? Would Lucan throw one of his notorious tantrums? Would Lucan refuse to eat? Would we miss Lucan like crazy? All of my concerns turned out to be silly. According to my parents, Lucan didn’t seem to mind one bit that we were gone and only got upset when my mom took his cell phone from him. (Lucan has one of my old cell phones that he loves playing with. He tried to take it  to bed with him for nap time.) He ate like a horse (my mom got him his first Happy Meal from McDonalds - the toy is sitting on the counter. I had no idea what it was) and tried to convince my mom that he needed two bananas for his bedtime snack (he normally doesn’t get ANYTHING for a bedtime snack!) Yes, my parents were tired by the end of the weekend, but overall my fears were unfounded. We missed our ferocious Lucan hugs, but Lance and I had a great weekend by ourselves.

I think that it’s easy to get lost in the role of being “mom” or “dad” and forget the couple you were before kids. A weekend getaway to the Twin Cities gave Lance and I the chance to reconnect and remind us why being “us” is so great. We didn’t do anything wild and crazy or go on some huge global adventure. We slept in late, drank coffee, didn’t worry about nap times or argue about whose turn it was to pick up Lucan’s mealtime mess. We talked in long, uninterrupted streams of conversation. All in all, it was a perfect, low-key, child-free weekend. And outlet shopping didn't hurt things either :)

March photo dump

We like to wear our yogurt on our face and eat our spoon separately.

Hello? I'd like to call China please. My parents are being mean and won't let me have another jelly bean. I'd like to return these parents please.

Oh, hey mom. Fancy meeting you here. I'm just calling for this other kid ... who has some jelly bean issues...

Double fisting is how we roll.

Lucan's favorite thing to do is buckle the clips on his seat.

And his seat becomes even more fun when it's on the ground.

Snow angels in yet another March snow storm. We didn't have snow boots for Lucan so I stuffed his shoes inside ziplock baggies. Where there is a will, there is a way. Please note that the smaller snow angel has tackled the bigger snow angel.

I think their snow angel technique has room for improvement.

Lucan went through a phase where every day he took off his clothes if I left him in his crib too long.

No one would ever accuse our house of being hot - especially not my parents who regularly complain about the temps in our house when they visit.

The nakedness also progressed into nap time.

Nothing like a little scrambled brains to get the noggin going!

Lucan has also taken to hiding in the pots and pans again. But because he's grown, now he has to take out pans to fit. Note the reflection of the popcorn maker in the oven door.

Besides being naked, Lucan also loves surfing the internet and playing on the computer.

He's shiftly looking about to see if anyone caught him bidding $200 on a new set of MegaBloks

Gotcha MegaBloks! Victory is mine!

Happily riding in his carseat with his beloved blankie. We own three of the precious blankies. Our next child will not get a light colored blanket to love. First time mom mistake.

Rolling around at Grandma K's house in the caterpillar tube. Crazy kiddo. 

Lance has "fixed" his beloved Chrysler LHS. "Fixed" in quotation marks because the car left us stranded on the other side of town when it was "fixed" the first time and then started pouring out antifreeze the second time it was "fixed" and took Lance an hour and a half to get home from downtown. When I say "fixed," I'm allowed to use quotation marks.  Lance likes to joke that the LHS, peeling paint and all 230,000 miles, will be Lu's first car. Oh Lucan, I pray we can do better for you that that!

Lucan was being a sweetheart and sat on his Grandpa K's lap for almost a half an hour while his Grandpa got some "beauty sleep" post-lunch.

Blogging on the side ...Des Moines Parent

I have another blog home! You can find me occasionally blogging at the Des Moines Parent site - here is an article I wrote today about things I'm excited to do in April. The graphic below is just a hint about the things on my calendar. Hint: if you didn't already think I'm a dork, this will confirm it :)

 

A Day in the Life of a Working Momma

6:20 AM - alarm goes off. Gads. I just want 10 more minutes. Snooze button.

6:30 AM - drag my butt out of bed. Grumble a grumpy good morning to Lance. Get ready for work and see if the clothes I picked out the night before are still appealing. Even if they aren't, I convince myself it's fine. Unless they're really not fine. Then I proceed to stand in front of my closet and work out what I should wear. Which at 6:30 AM, is as bad as me trying to do long division in my head.

6:55 AM - start waking up Lucan and mumble a pray of thanks when he doesn't throw a fit about being taken out of his soft, warm pajamas.

7:00 AM - wrestle Lucan to the ground and try and force his antibiotics down. Bribe with dove chocolate. Mission accomplished.

7:10 AM - wave goodbye to Lance and Lucan off and pray that Lucan doesn't cry during drop-off this morning. Send up a prayer of thanksgiving that it's Tues and Lance has drop-off today and not me.
Throw random diced vegetables, chicken and spices into the crockpot for supper. Cross my fingers and hope that it turns out.

7:22 AM - BOLT out of the house for work. Tell my car not to tell Lance that I didn't warm her up this morning. It's a good thing it takes me less than 10 minutes to get to work, but even so, I'm not going to be at my desk by 7:30.

7:32 AM - sneak into my cube, but no one really cares the exact time I roll into work. These feelings of guilt are leftover from my last lovely boss. Check my email and see what's on the docket for the day.
8:00 AM - run down three flights of stairs to toast my toast and make myself a bohemith mug of coffee. Now I'm a human being.

8:15 AM - settle into going about my day.

10:39 AM - momentarily panic when I hear my phone vibrating with a text and pray it's not daycare sending Lucan home. Start breathing again when I realize it's a text from Culvers with some asinine promotion. Contemplate unsubscribing from their texts but remember how much I love their custard. Stupid Culvers.

Noon - lunch. FINALLY. Run a couple of "errands"/wander aimlessly through Target and keep telling myself that I'm going to start working out again over lunch. Really soon.

1:10 PM - say a short prayer that Lucan takes a good nap at daycare. Because their is nothing like waiting all day to play with your child only to find him exhausted and crabby from not napping at daycare. 

2:32 PM - afternoon slump. Man, I'm really dragging ... maybe I need a Diet Cherry Coke...

4:35 PM- leisurely walk to the parking lot to my car and inhale deeply.

4:45 PM - arrive home and do a few chores before I run to daycare to pick-up Lu.

5:10 PM - pick-up Lu and ask how his day went. One-hour nap. AGAIN. Make the realization that tonight will be a doozie.

5:30 PM - Lucan is crazy whiny. Give him a hug and a banana to temporarily pacify him. Banana seems to do the trick, not mommy hugs. 

5:38 PM - Lance walks in and I breathe a sigh of relief. Someone else can try and reason with our crazy monkey of a toddler. 

6:00 PM - We all sit down for supper. Lucan refuses to eat everything except the carrots out of the soup. Everything else he throws on the floor. Whatever. Force Lucan to take some more amoxacillin. Give him more chocolate. Make a mental note to buy more Dove Promises because Lu has just finished my stash.

7:40 PM - BEDTIME for hysterical monkey man.

8:00 PM - watch a little TV and check menu plan for tomorrow to see if there's anything I can prep tonight. Mushroom, beef and noodles. A leftover conglomerate: beef from leftover french dip sandwiches and mushrooms from smothered grilled chicken. Nothing that I can really prep tonight.

10:00 PM - shower, pick out clothes and set out lunch for myself. Read my Bible and Reading Lolita in Tehran in bed. Get in massive trouble when I spill a huge glass of water in the bed causing us to change sheets at 11:10 pm.Oppsie.

11:15 PM - lights off, lots of grumbling about getting me a sippy cup for my bedside water.

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Homemade Dijon Vinaigrette Salad Dressing

Does anyone else get annoyed at the hosts of cooking shows who really tout how wonderful and easy it is to make homemade salad dressing? Such was the case with Clinton Kelly on “The Chew.” Blah, blah, blah my salad dressing is so fantastic and it just takes moments to make. This is coming from the same people who have hair and make-up artists to help them get ready in the morning and have assistants to chop their onions for them. I have no time for those chefs who make these fantastic things with ingredient lists 25 items long that take hours of braising. That’s not real life folks! With that attitude, I hesitate to post homemade salad dressing recipes because there’s nothing easier than buying dressing out of a bottle. I won’t sit here and tell you that your life is going to be dramatically altered after you taste this salad dressing, but I will tell you that it’s a nice change if you are going to spend some time preparing a meal that’s special.

Recently I made this dressing and served it on a simple bed of romaine lettuce. I think I added some dried fruit too, maybe some craisins. I usually try and add some fun crunchy toppings because dear hubby thinks that all salads need “accessories.” Man, he’s become high maintenance in his salad demands J We had some friends over for supper and I made one of our “company” meals. Meaning I usually don’t put that much time or effort into an ordinary weeknight meal for just the family. Our “company” meal consisted of a beef roast with onions and carrots, mashed potatoes, gravy, spoon cornbread and my lettuce salad. The salad added an element of crunch to an otherwise soft meal. The dressing has a nice bite to it, so it adds a sour element that would otherwise be missing.

So if you have a few extra moments and are making a “company” meal, this dressing would be a great finishing touch!

Clinton Kelly’s Dijon Vinaigrette

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 teaspoons Dijon Mustard (leftover in jar)
• 2 tablespoons Apple Cider Vinegar
• 1 tablespoon Shallots (finely chopped)
• 1 tablespoon Honey
• 3 tablespoons Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• Kosher Salt and freshly ground Black Pepper to taste

Note: I doubled the recipe as the measurements above won’t yield much dressing for four people. I also used my immersion blender to ensure emulsification, but you could easily use a jar and just go to town shaking. 

An Irish Fashion Show

We were out of town this past weekend, so excuse my tardiness. Here are a few demonstrations of Lucan's Irishness at Target. It goes without saying that Lucan was SUPER THRILLED about my accessory choices.

Thoughts about going back to work.

On Monday, my second, involuntary maternity leave ends. An employer believed in me enough to add me to their payroll. Needless to say, I have mixed feelings.

Top 200 7 Concerns about Going Back to Work

• I don't like that Lucan is going back into the daycare system. I think this is one of the biggest concerns for any working mom. We just don't want anyone else but ourselves watching our child. And I'm ashamed to say, dads fall into this category too. I just don't trust anyone as much as I trust myself. I know that the person I am entrusting my child to has more children than I do and has been caring for children much longer than myself. But they just aren't my child's mom! I also think that Lucan is going to wonder if Lance and I don't love him anymore because he has to go to daycare. I know. I'm over-reacting.
• I'm going to get SUBSTANTIALLY less sleep than I'm presently getting. Prior to my second maternity leave, I was averaging 6.5 hours of sleep per night. Now I'm averaging somewhere around 8.5-9 hours of sleep. I don't know if I can go back to being a functional adult on 6.5 hours. Especially sitting through long, boring meetings.
• I don't know how I'm going to get anything done at home. When I was working before it was quite normal for me to have almost 2 months worth of ironing to get done at a time. Now, there is never more than 5 shirts that need to be ironed. Obviously this is an important concern.
• I hate that this is a worry, but I worry about how other CHRISTIAN mom's will judge me about working full-time. Trust me, it's a legit concern. I can count on one hand the number of backhanded comments I've heard about working moms. From women at my church. Don't get me started.
• I'm going to miss my little man! Granted I'm not going to miss the full-blown kicking battles I go through to change a diaper, but Lu has changed and grown-up so much these past few months. I mean, he knows how to blow kisses and give hugs! That's full-on adorable.
• How am I ever going to get supper on the table? I suppose this is where I lower my expectations about what supper should look like.
• A FB friend of mine posted one day, "You can be a good mom and a good employee, but not both on the same day." I keep thinking about that and keeping my fingers crossed that Lucan won't pick up some horrible flu strain at daycare. I remember looking at my caller ID at work and always silently praying that it wasn't daycare.

On the flip side, here are some benefits:

• A paycheck! Enough said.
• Paying off my student loans!
• Wearing my cute work clothes (I've already picked out a week's worth of outfits)
• The ability to talk on the phone and not have to try and wrestle it away from a toddler
• Someone else has to convince Lucan that regular -not shells- mac and cheese isn't poison.

Thoughts about turning 30

This isn't exactly how I imagined turning 30. Okay, not at all. I always thought that when I turned 30 I would be a lot smarter. Turns out I'm not. I'm sure that this doesn't come as a surprise to anyone but me. Here is what I would tell my 20 year-old self.

Dear Kara at 20,

Savor those naps. They are blissful and won't happen as frequently the older you get. Staying up to 1:30 am to finish your homework? Those days are numbered too. In fact, 1:30 am is going change from being a social time to being a time you would hate to be awake. Trust me, 20 year-old Kara, it's true!

Pay attention during class. You might actually need to use some of that information later on in life. Especially in biblical studies. You don't want to be the only one left out of the eschatology discussion! But then again, most of the skills you'll need to get yourself a job aren't going to come from a text book. Okay, you can think twice about paying attention in class. Work on remembering people's names and store away bits of your conversation to talk about later. This will come in handy.

Cherish the friendships you are making. College is this sweet time when you are surrounded by community and people who are all looking for friends too. Post-college community is possible, but it's a lot harder and takes more effort. Those friendships are equally enriching, but to make them go you're going to have to be more intentional. Stay in one spot. Kara, you are flitting around meeting lots of people, but you need a solid core. Stop being happy with lots of acquaintances and try pouring into just a few people. Acquaintances will come and go, but a good group of girl friends are forever.

Your parents want to do the best for you that they know how. They might not know exactly how to go about doing that, but they just want to ensure that you are happy and that you don't move back in with them after college. There's a reason why it's called "leaving the nest" so get your act together, learn how to manage your finances and be responsible.

Above all Kara, try to enjoy life as it is right now. Not how you wish it was or what it will be like 10 years down the road. Enjoy the here and now because you will never get back those moments again.

Love,
Your 30 year-old self

PS - the guy you are dating presently? Yep, you are going to marry him. He's pretty cool and will put up with all your hang-ups about turing 30. Be nice to him, he's going to support you and your wacko dreams.

Menu Plan Monday

One thing that I try to consistently do is menu planning. I HATE hearing "what should we have for supper?" so if we menu plan once a week, I only have to hear it once! Menu planning helps keeps grocery costs down and helps a busy household stay organized. It also helps me survey what we have on hand that needs to be used. Needless to say, I'm a big fan of menu planning.

My friend Jessica once told me that my menus, pre-Lucan, were pretty ambitious. I will agree with her. Much of my cooking now is for things that can be prepped during naptime and then assembled with one hand later on. I also try and take into account what Lucan likes and can manage to eat. Spaghetti is hard. Too many beans, too many days in a row leads to some horrid diapers. Lu hates green peppers. I don't think that he's a fan of lettuce either. Or meatloaf. Obviously I'm glad that Lucan isn't too bad of an eater all in all. Because if I had a truly picky eater, I'd probably cry at every meal.

Game plan for this week. Eat out of the freezer. Which goes against my stockpiler/hoarder nature. True confession: there are still a few things in my freezer I made before Lucan was born when I thought that I would never be able to cook again. I know. Those things should be tossed. But we are eating out of the freezer because we got notification that a side of beef would be ready. Cue panic as to how we are going to be able to fit a side of beef in our freezer. Pan camera to Lance who's brain is frantically calculating the average size of a side of beef and what things are the biggest that we need to eat. Bring focus back on me whose solution is to make three loaves of banana bread and freeze them :) I know, not exactly helping. But our goal is to keep eating out of the freezer to make way for a side of beef.

Monday: Navy bean soup
Tuesday: Eat out for delayed Valentine's Day celebration - Sam & Gabes!
Wednesday: Campanelle with Mushrooms and Kale
Thursday: Small group nite - freezer food - old crusty lasagna?
Friday: brunch food (waffles, eggs and hasbrowns)
Saturday lunch: Hickory park (L & K), freezer casserole (parents and Lu) - we have ISU basketball tickets and my parents will be taking care of Lucan.
Saturday supper: cashew chicken stir fry and pot stickers
Sunday lunch: flour tacos (ambitious, but since my parents are in town, I'll have an extra set of hands)
Sunday supper: pizza and popcorn