Too Much to Do and Not Enough Time

So yesterday DD#1 left for 3 weeks in Florida with her father… and even with 3 other kids still running around, the house felt empty.  What’s it going to be like when she moves on campus next month? 

Sunday, the remaining 3 DD’s head off to a week of sleep-away summer camp.   This will be the first time in 18 YEARS that I will be child-free for more than 48 hours (excluding my hospitalization 7 years ago but I don’t think that really counts.)  You’d think I’d be planning on a week of vacation days, spa days, and leisurely dinners out with the DH.  And you would be wrong.  I’m working 3 days (DH is working 4) and I plan on using my 2 days off to:

·         Clean the basement pantry (we have a ranch-style house and because of lack of space in the kitchen, I’ve carved a part of our basement into a second pantry)

·         Clean the lower-level family room/den (time to dispose of all those toys that no one has touched in 4 years but still refuse to dispose of on their own because “I might want it later!”)

·         Donate blood (seriously, folks, it takes half an hour and is so important – check out www.redcross.org)

Saturday will be a hellish nightmare of trips to Walmart, Target, the sporting goods store, etc., so I can finalize the stuff the kids need for camp.  Oh, and I need to find time to hit the mall because Sunday is DD#3’s 10^th birthday.  Naturally I haven’t started shopping yet (don’t judge!)  She got one of her presents earlier this week, when DH & I took her and her younger sister to see The Jonas Brothers in concert.  Nothing like seeing an aging boy band with an almost 10 year old and a 7 year old, I’ll tell you that.  Hopefully I can see another concert soon, so if I’m ever asked “What’s the last concert you saw?”, I can answer without feeling too embarrassed. 

Okay, let’s get back to today though.  I’m at work, trying to enjoy the last little bits of my lunch break, and an email comes across that there’s a going-away party for a departing employee in the canteen as we speak.  And it wouldn’t be my workplace if there wasn’t some sort of fattening goodies.  Today it’s punch and cake.  Enough with the food, coworkers!!!  Or maybe someone can help me find some will power, so I can resist the siren call of buttercream icing.  Seriously, the last thing I need is a huge piece of cake on top of the BLT I had for lunch and the pizza we're having for dinner.  Uggh!

Bye for now!

Here Comes the Rain Again

It’s almost the middle of July, right?  Because I’m in Northeast Ohio and it hasn’t been warmer than mid 80s in a few weeks.  Right now, we’re getting hit with a thunderstorm and the temperature dropped into the 70s.  We've usually had some 90+ degree days by now but not this year.  I know I shouldn't be complaining but it's just weird.  In fact, the weather’s been all wonky this year, though.  When our old hometown of Greenwich, CT gets more snow than we do here, in the Snow Belt of the United States, you know something's wrong.

Today was the first day back at work after a weird work week (we had Thursday off for the holiday but had to work on Friday) and, naturally, the day took forever.  Between the email server screwing up for a good part of the morning (and again after lunch, but just for me because I'm special - no comments) and having to start the leg work for our FY13 audit (we haven't even closed last fiscal year yet but the auditors want us to start sending out bank confirmation already), it definitely wasn't my day.  The only thing that really worked was I managed to sneak in a 1 mile walk during lunch, and that was really nice.

Then I get home and what do I hear?  DD#3 asking for a human-eating lizard and DD#4 asking why we don’t own a thundershirt.  No, we don’t have a dog and, thus, have no need for a thundershirt.  Apparently she thought it might help her with thunderstorms.  I know she’s 7 and that she’s creative (putting it nicely) but DD#4 really takes the “I’m almost as weird as my Daddy” thing too far.  (Those who know DH in real life can vouch that DD#4's comments sound like something her father would say.)  At least she’s now arguing with DH about watching Doctor Who on his computer because the TV keeps going out because of the storm.  (Why yes, we do have DirecTV?  How could you possibly have guessed?  *snert*)  Listening to him repeat over and over that the storm has no effect on Netflix and that streams to the television via our Wii system is definitely amusing.  Nice that someone else in the house has to deal with the typical barrage of "Why?  Why?  Why?" questions for tonight. 

Wisely though, DD's #1 & 2 have been avoiding me.  Maybe they're afraid of getting in trouble for not doing chores or because they overheard the younger 2's conversations with me and figured I need a break.  Either way, I'm a little grateful because it allows me some "alone" time.  With 4 kids living at home, that doesn't happen all that often but when it does, it's appreciated.

I spent yesterday afternoon cooking meals for use during the week (breaded pork chops – which were last night’s dinner, barbecued chicken, and Yankee pot roast) and what does everyone want for dinner tonight?  Yep, you guessed it.  Hot dogs and baked French fries.  WTF?  DH was off work today (as he worked yesterday) so he could have cooked something or just reheated one of my pre-cooked frozen dinner options.  But, no, everyone wanted my lazy “OMG I totally forgot about getting dinner ready!” fallback dinner.  *grrr*  Although it was nice that when my ex-husband called, while I was in the middle of getting dinner prepared, that I had the handy "I'm in the middle of making dinner and can't talk" line available for use.  I really wish he'd remember that we're divorced, we're not friends (I tolerate him for the sake of our daughters), and I don't really care that he's nowhere near the area in Florida that's under hurricane warning.  It's like he forgets that we've been divorced 15 years.  I only have 1 1/2 years left of being nice to him, because that's when DD#2 turns 18.  I'll be civil to him for the girls' sake but I definitely don't want to be friends with him.  (Those who know the circumstances of our divorce definitely know why I don't want to deal with him any more than necessary.  Suffice to say, he's not a pleasant person.)

OMG, DD#2 just came out and told me that her conversation with my ex-MIL involved her weight.  DD#2 put on a few pounds this year but is definitely not obese by any stretch of the imagination.  Apparently her grandmother wanted to know how the dieting is going (note:  she isn't on one) and if she lost any of that weight she put on.  Seriously?!  Because she's no longer a size 3, you're going to start in on her?  Is it because DD#1 lost a full dress size since graduation, thanks to no longer eating the over-processed crap sold in the school cafeteria and actually exercising in the mornings?  One of these days, my ex-MIL is going to understand that I've always struggled with my weight (slow metabolism) and my girls seem to have the same problem.  They're not skinny twigs like their cousins.  My girls have to keep active to keep their weight at healthy levels and no matter how much they work out, they're never going to be a size 0.  (I can't believe I'm going to have to explain to her, yet again, that it's okay that my daughters wear a size 3 or 5.  As long as their doctor says they're healthy and they stay active, I'm not going to jump on them for gaining 10 lbs. or throw a party for them losing 10.)

Tonight I should be dying my hair (thanks again to my father for passing on the “graying WAY too early in life” gene) and maybe painting my nails.  Instead I’ll end up doing the chores that the kids blew off today because, silly me, I didn’t write a list of what I wanted them to do.  You’d think they would be capable of looking around, see stuff to be done, and (oh I don’t know) just do it.  Or that DH could remind them during the day.  But no, if it’s not written down by Mom on the Boogie Board (love that thing!) on the refrigerator, apparently it doesn’t get done.  Then, again, there have been MANY days where I’ve written stuff down and they still didn’t do it.  *double grrr*  I should be happy that at least the dishes were washed, even though they weren't put away.

Well, since I’m the one doing chores tonight, I guess I’ll pop on some Foo Fighters and grab the broom.   ¯¯One of these days... the ground will drop out… from... beneath your feet¯¯

See you later.

I'm Back (and Didn't Require Bail Money to Survive This Weekend!)

Well, now that things have slowed down a bit, I thought I'd take a minute to update everything.  Saturday morning, DD#1 graduated high school (along with 652 other students.)  She's had a rough go the past 5 years (she has had to deal with a fellow student stalking and harassing her since 7th grade) but she finished and did it with a good GPA, to boot!  We're so proud!

And because DD#1 was graduating, it meant my ex-husband and his parents were in town to celebrate with us.  Normally my ex makes me want to get all stabby but he somewhat behaved himself (other than the "we're not screaming, we're just disagreeing with each other in loud voices" incident at the Japanese restaurant Friday night, which resulted in DD#1 walking out of the restaurant - LOOONNNNGGGG story that I just don't have the energy to discuss.)  For the first time in years, I was around him and not wanting to do something that would require DH or a good friend to provide bail money.  This was also the first time in the 14+ years DH & I have been together that DH's incredibly awesome brother got to meet my ex-husband.  I'm still not sure how they never met before.

As usual, I had a lovely time with his parents.  I really do like them.  The amount of love and concern they show DD's #1 & 2 is amazing (and the fact they love DD's #3 & #4 really speaks volumes about them.)

All in all, it was a very good weekend.  Here's hoping that, when we do this again in a year for DD#2, we have a similar experience.  *fingers crossed*

And... that was basically the gist of my entire weekend (Friday - Sunday.)  Just dealing with the conflicting emotions of being proud of DD#1 for graduating, being happy that she's going on to bigger and better things, being excited that her life is really starting to take flight, being sad that she won't be around every day, and being stunned wondering where all the time went, as she turns 18 on Thursday.  I swear she was just 5 years old and rolling her eyes at me when I attempted to kiss her goodbye on the first day of kindergarten.  Where did it all go?  I guess all I can do is sit back and hope we raised her well enough to be become a productive member of society.  Based on the poised and confident young woman I saw walk across the stage to accept her diploma, I think we did okay.

Now it's just time to sit back and rest up, for Thursday's going to be big.  DD#1 turns 18, it's the last day of school for DD's #2 - 4, DD#2 has a doctor's appointment later in the day (hopefully we get some answers about the mysterious reddish/purple blotches on her leg), and I get to make a red velvet cake.  Naturally, I'm taking a half day, so I can attempt to do everything.  Although if it does get hectic, I can always run over to White Flower Cake Shoppe in Beachwood and grab some red velvet cupcakes (seriously, if you're ever in Northeast Ohio and you want to try the best cakes ever, White Flower is a MUST SEE!)

Oh, one last thing... is it possible for my house to stay clean longer than a day or two?  The house was cleaned to "visitor" level on Friday and was completely trashed by Saturday evening, thanks to all the party stuff that came home from the park where we had the party.  Maybe if I stopped playing Candy Crush and reading Fark.com, I might have the energy to clean up more.... NAH.  lol

Gotta run.  Words With Friends is calling.  : )

Shiny, Happy People Holding Hands

No explanation for the title of tonight's blog.  I've just had that song stuck in my head all day and thought I'd share the ear worm.  Sorry!

Anywho, after dealing with the day that would never end at work, I finally came home... to a house completely destroyed by my 4 darling daughters.  Seriously?  You can't be bothered to place your shoes on the shoe rack in the entryway or put your backpacks where they go without Mom yelling at you to do so?  Then I got to explain to DD#1 that doing a half-ass job on washing dishes will make everyone sick... again.  Then I, again, showed her how to properly wash dishes while the pasta water was waiting to boil.  Maybe one of these days (hopefully before she moves to her dorm in August) she'll FINALLY get the concept.  Then, again, I'm already planning on buying each one of my girls a copy of the Martha Stewart Housekeeping Handbook  of their own.  (You know, the book that inspired my other blog from '09.  Oh, and it covers manually washing dishes on pages 64 & 65.  You're welcome.)

Dinner ended up being my emergency "Oh crap!  I forgot about dinner!" meal - pasta with sauce and garlic bread.  Tonight's pasta was cheese tortellini and the sauce was vodka sauce.  I'm just annoyed I didn't have any pancetta.  A half pound of pancetta, diced and sauteed until crispy and brown, then tossed into vodka sauce is absolute heaven.  (Mental note:  add pancetta to grocery list.)

I was hoping I'd get a chance to bake lemon poppyseed scones and blueberry buttermilk muffins tonight but that didn't happen.  Hell, the DD's didn't even bother to wash the dinner dishes.  *sigh*  Maybe I can bribe the DH into doing them?  I really DON'T feel up to doing them.

I'm wondering if I can convince the boss to let me take a half-day tomorrow (I'm already off on Friday) but I don't think that will happen.  We've just started the month-end closing process for our financial books.  Uggh!  All I want is an hour or two to myself with no work, no kids, no husband, no phone... just me and Candy Crush... or maybe some uninterrupted crocheting time and a nice cup of English or Irish Breakfast Tea.

Earlier tonight I spent an hour or so making a music playlist for DD#1's high school graduation party.  It's much easier (and cheaper) to just program a playlist on iTunes, hook up some speakers, and play that instead of hiring a DJ or renting a "DJ in a Box" (10,000 songs that I'm sure my daughter would like maybe a hundred of with a set of speakers... all for the low, low rental price of $250 a day.  And that's the high school grad party "special" price from the rental place.  Totally not going to happen.)  While I'm still horrified by her intense adoration of Madonna, Lady Gaga and Britney (a/k/a overly commercialized made-for-radio auto-tuned music), I was very happily surprised when she asked me to add The Ramones, Weezer, Muse, and Jason Mraz to the list.  YAY!

Well, maybe I'll actually get some of that baking done after all.  I'm thinking I'm going with the blueberry muffins tonight.  Nothing like waking up to fresh muffins in the morning.  Plus I got an amazing deal on organic blueberries last week ($1.99 a pint!) and I want to use the one pint I didn't freeze before they start going bad.

Good night.

*****Tonight's Recipe:  Blueberry Buttermilk Muffins
2 1/2 C flour
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
3/4 C sugar
1/4 tsp. salt
2 eggs, beaten
1 C buttermilk
4 oz. butter, melted and slightly browned
1 1/2 C blueberries
1 tsp. vanilla extract

Sift dry ingredients together in a large bowl.  In another bowl, whisk eggs, buttermilk, butter, and vanilla.  Make a well in dry ingredients and pour in liquid ingredients, mixing quickly.  Fold in blueberries.

Spoon batter into greased or lined muffin cups and bake in a preheated 400 degree F oven for 20 - 30 minutes, until golden brown.

(Super easy recipe and they taste OMG AMAZING!)