Blogging From iPhones is Difficult- A Haiku

I wish I could show
My vacation view. Blogger
Has no app for that.

This haiku was inspired by Mama Knows it All's Weekly Haiku Link-up!

Advice for the men

I was talking with a guy friend of mine who was off to buy his wife a birthday gift.  He wasn't sure what to get and said that his wife was difficult to shop for.  I've heard this complaint before from the mouths of men.

I smiled and shook my head in pity at the fool.

"I can tell you right now what she wants," I said with all the certainty in the world.  "She wants to be left alone for a day."

I explained that we moms, We, bearers of the children, keepers of the home, cookers of the dinners, launderers of the clothing- we just want some peace and quiet for one day.

Men out there, we know you've waited till the last minute (as all men do).  You're running around like a chicken with your head cut off shopping for our birthday, holiday, valentine's day or mother's day, on the eve of the event.  

Spare us the candle and the chotchkies and the scarves and, hell, even the jewelry.  

Yes-  Even the jewelry.

Save yourself the trouble and call to book either a spa day or wine tasting tour for 2.   

...And by "2", I don't mean for you and said mother of your children.  No, sir, you won't be sampling the nectar of Bacchus or having your pretty little peds massaged that day.  Because the other half of your gift will be that you stay home with the children (or go out with them somewhere- we really don't care how you spend the day, just make sure no one ends up in the ER because our cell phones will be switched off).  Don't you worry about that second space- we can find someone else to fill it.

When the day comes for us to walk out the front door toward our one day of peace, do not stand in the kitchen with a surly face amongst the spilled cheerios and crying babes.  Instead, be brave:  Smile.  Wish us well and give us no guilt trip.

Do not "check in" throughout the day unless the house is on fire- and even then, don't bother.  Because, really?  What are we?  Firemen??

And when our day of peace is done, please have our favorite beverage of choice on ice for when we come back home and, for the love of all that is holy in this sweet world, order a pizza for the family.  We won't be cooking dinner that night.

I Can't Even Think Of A Good Title -A Haiku

 I have writer's block.

But I'm sure there must be a

cute haiku for this.

This post is inspired by Mama Knows It All's Tuesday Haiku Link-up!  Stop by her page to see more- They only take a moment to read but they just might brighten your whole day!

I'M DOING A DOUBLE LINK-UP THIS WEEK!

Also inspired by Mama Kat's Writer's Workshop!

 

Let's Hear It For The Boy

My husband is such a good Dad.

I could almost stop writing this post write there because, in a nutshell, that's all I have to say.

Dave is an awesome, fun, thoughtful, caring Dad.

I don't say it nearly enough, especially on here.  In blogworld, Dave might come off as absentminded or careless or inconsiderate.  I certainly don't mean for that to happen---- I just tend to write about him as the goofy hubs who leaves receipts and gum in his pocket for the laundry or who gifts me chotchkies for his own amusement.  But in reality, he makes me laugh and he gives me great inspiration for many blog posts.  In fact, oftentimes after he does something I roll my eyes at, he'll sigh and ask "Is this gonna end up on your blog later?"  I just smile and pat his head empathetically.  He puts up with me because, hey, if I ever sell that book I could be his meal ticket someday!

But back to what a cool Dad he is...

When I was pregnant, I used to try to imagine what Dave would be like as a dad.  Nothing could have prepared me for what he turned into.  Women would joke with me about husbands never doing diaper duty.  But from the moment Anna was born, Dave stepped up. 

From Day 1, Anna has just been a part of Dave's life on a daily basis.

He doesn't bat a single eyelash when considering taking her anywhere with him (even to fantasy genre book signings!)...

 She's the only girl Dave would let get this close to his computer...

She's the only little kid Dave would let man-handle his video game controllers...

Many ladies I know complain that their husbands dread "Mom's Night Out".  But I'm happy to say that Dave is really the opposite.  He uses this time to create special daddy-daughter adventures including trips to some backwoods park...

or to the races to catch the all the action of the Kentucky Derby...

or just fun times around the house doing things that mom might be too uptight to try...

He loves his adventures with Anna.

So this Father's Day, I just want to give it up to the man who loves my little girl more than any other man in the world.

And that's all I have to say about that.

Thankfully, no one is making me drink 31 shots...

I'm sitting here on the eve of my 31st birthday listening to the rain pouring down outside.  I can't help but be reminded of another birthday, 10 years ago, to be exact- the BIG 21st.  As tradition goes, I celebrated the night before, counting down to midnight when I could buy myself a drink at the bar.  And the eve of my 21st was very similar to tonight in fact, although the rain came down much heavier and we found ourselves in the midst of a flood!  And by "flood", I don't mean "Wow, it sure is raining alot out there"--- I mean, state of emergency, very odd natural disaster for this area, officials advised us to stay inside kind of flood!

My birthday had come later than many of my friends, and I had watched them all turn 21 one-by-one throughout the school year.  As each one reached the milestone, I'd party with them until just before midnight when they would happily parade down to the bar.  I would hang back at the house, unable to join them.  But all that waiting around was worth it because when it was my turn, nearly everyone was able to come to the bar.  Plus, having a birthday in June meant the stress of the school year was already a few weeks behind us, so we had an extra reason to celebrate.  And as the saying goes, come hell or high water, we were going to party that night!

I scrapbooked the memories of my 21st a few years ago before they had all but faded away into the abyss that is my brain these days.  Tonight Dave and I were talking about how this birthday is the 10th anniversary of my 21st birthday when I remembered the scrapbook and pulled it out. 

We had some good laughs as we recounted the night.  Although Dave and I were not dating at that time, we were close friends, so he was there to take part in the fun (and probably some good old fashioned flirting, if my memory serves me right).

Years ago when I compiled these scrapbook pages, I was smart enough to write a small blurb about the evening:

On the eve of my 21st birthday, there was a huge rainstorm.  Horsham and all the surrounding areas were completely flooded out.  My neighborhood friends waded down the street to my mom's house on Winchester Drive.  A bunch of my Kutztown friends made the trek from all over- Bucks County, Berks County, Philly.  Tommy and his friend even came in from Jersey and he called me from the parking lot of the Horsham Giant because their car was stuck, so Jeff and I hopped in his truck to rescue them!  Everyone was soaked from the rain and some people had to borrow t-shirts and sweaters to get out of their wet clothes.  As a birthday gift, my dad rented a limo and the driver was amazing!  Just before midnight, she shuttled us, going about 25 miles an hour through 2 and a half feet of water, load by load up to Gavin's.  It was the only bar in the area still open and we were pretty much the only people in the place, so the staff was happy to have us there.  It was definitely a birthday to remember!

We had a limo at our disposal with an awesome driver who didn't give a crap about the rain pooling up everywhere outside- she was nuts!  She just had a Get 'er Done attitude and she seemed personally invested in my having a fantastic evening.  I can't remember her name or what she looked like, but I do remember being so thankful (and drunk) at the end of the night that we all emptied our pockets of all our lose extra money to give her a tip, even though I knew my dad had already paid her tip ahead of time.

My sisters were supposed to head out to a bachelorette party, but their limo driver was not as adventurous as mine- That was fine by me because it meant they could party with us!

My sisters and I with my mom on my birthday eve.

It really was such an incredible night.  All fun and no drama.  My old neighborhood friends got along so well with my new college friends.

My mom and stepfather opened up our house and allowed all my friends to stay over.  I believe I finally fell asleep in the dining room amidst a pile of friends.

It's nice to see where I am today, 10 years later, as I look back at these pages.  I still count many of the people pictured as close friends, although we might not see one another as often as we'd like these days.  Some of the friends I had lost touch with in later years and reconnected with recently, like my friend Martina, who moved a few blocks away from me just about a month before our 2 kids were born on the exact same day.

(L) Martina giving her best "Stop talking, Jeanne, and just take the shot" face on my 21st birthday;  (R) Our kids, Anna and Lukas celebrating their first birthday.

The clock just turned to midnight as I am writing this post, and for a brief moment I thought I should have a drink to commemorate the occasion.  But then I thought "Good Lord, woman, have you lost your mind??  Get to bed!  You're not 21 anymore!!"  

And that's fine by me.  I am going to bed with a peaceful, happy heart, and that's the best anyone can wish for on their birthday.

Pink Polished Piggies- A Haiku

Pink Polished Piggies.

 I love that you wanted to

be just like Mommy.

This post is inspired by Mama Knows It All's Tuesday Haiku Link-up!  Stop by her page to see more- They only take a moment to read but they just might brighten your whole day!

Dinner is SERVED.

You should know by now that one of my favorite things about this blog is sharing Time- and Money-Saving Tips.  And if you don't know, now you know, Mommies.  So let me divulge the info regarding my latest obsession.  I'll start with the inspiration--- my lovely friend Cortney...

A few months ago, my girlfriends and I went to visit Cortney and her brand new second baby.  She had only been home from the hospital for about a week, so we came bearing dinner and assumed her house would be in the typical shambles and disarray that comes with a new-infant... but alas, it was not.  I knew that Cortney was an organized mama, but I didn't realize to what extent.  On her fridge she had posted several lists, including schedules for anyone coming to help with the new baby, schedules for her first son, and general activity lists.  But the list that caught my eye was the Dinner Schedule.  This was a list for the entire month with dinner planned for every single evening!  My girlfriends and I began to excitedly attack her with questions.  Ok, I, in particular, was the one attacking... I was amazed with her mad skills, yo!  And I simply had to learn the method to her madness.

Cortney explained that every month she plans all her dinners at once.  She takes inventory of her cabinets and refrigerator before making a mass shopping list.  Then, she spends a day shopping for everything at once--- A stop at the grocery store, a stop at the bulk warehouse, and a final stop at the local produce market.  Since she shops for many items in bulk, naturally she saves money there.  She's also able to use fresh produce in most of her meals because she is always keeping the shelf life of her fruits and veggies in mind as she plans the schedule.  For example, potatoes and onions can last an entire month, but tomatoes and zuchinni spoil more quickly so she uses them in her earlier meals.

Of course, she does need to make small stops throughout the month to refresh certain items such as milk and bananas for her son, but she barely needs to step foot in a grocery store for the remainder of the entire 30 days.  This was music to my ears!  I loathe food shopping.  See, I'd love to use one of those services where you order your groceries online and then pick them up in the store, but I'm very picky about my meat and produce and expiration dates on everything in between so I need to shop for these items myself to give me peace of mind.  Anna, unfortunately, hates being in a shopping cart for more than 2 minutes, so our weekly food shopping trips had become a miserable routine.

I decided I owed it to myself to at least give The Cortney Dinner Schedule (as I am now dubbing it) a shot.  I left her house enlightened and excited to get started.  When I got home, I sat down to write my first meal plan.  The first month I kept it very basic--- luckily, Dave is a very picky eater (think Five-year-old-child-sort-of Picky) so it's easy to keep it basic.  My first plan consisted of things like Shake & Bake Pork Chops, Spaghetti with Meatballs (for him) & Shrimp (for me), Breaded Chicken, and Grilled Steak.  I then took complete inventory of all food in my kitchen, from freezer to fridge to cabinet.  Using this, I made a massive checklist of what I needed for the month and crossed off what I already had. 

The next day I hit up all three stores just as Cortney instructed.

The first thing I noticed was how relaxing my trip was because I didn't have Anna with me.  I explained everything in detail to Dave, and with one incredulously raised eyebrow, he acquiesced to the plan and agreed let me head out on my excursion sans toddler.

The second thing I noticed was how quickly everything went!  Since I had a list that covered all meals and snacks for the entire month, I thought that I'd be shopping for hours--- but because I had everything I needed for the entire month on my list, I had no reason to waver from it and thus was in and out of each store fairly quickly!

The third thing I noticed was how few items I actually purchased!  Do you ever notice at the bottom of your receipt most stores now tell you the number of items you bought?  My number was remarkably low because, again, I was sticking to the list and also buying as much as I could in bulk.

And the final thing I noticed was how much money I saved!  I typically shop weekly and will spend anywhere from $80-$130 on each trip (not to mention all the small shopping trips that Dave and I each make throughout the month to pick up a couple of items, which probably adds up to another $80 or so.)  I tallied all three receipts when I got home and found that I had spent just a little over $300!

Like I said, that first month I kept all my meals very basic and I didn't buy much of the meat in bulk because I just wanted to get a feel for how this "program" worked.  Every evening after dinner, I'd check the calendar to see what was on plan for the next day.  I moved any necessary ingredients from the freezer to the fridge so it was defrosted and ready for me the following night.  

The second month was May, and I decided it was time to 1- use more exciting recipes and 2- buy most of my meat in bulk.  At the end of April I again sat down with my calendar and recipe box to make my schedule:

You can see that I also planned out what I like to call "Fend for Yourself" nights as needed, and I put some TV dinners and frozen pizzas on my list for those.  It's also nice to give yourself the night off every once in a while, and to remind your husband why :-)

I'm big on hints- can you tell???

I hit up the bulk warehouse first because I really wanted to do the research and check out my meat options before I bought anything at a regular grocery store.  Let me tell you- I was pleasantly surprised!  (Before you read any further, let me warn my vegetarian friends: I'm posting a bunch of meaty pics, and I'm sorry if this grosses you out!  However, I'm sure these same lessons can be applied to items like tofu or the like)

Dave and I love to grill as much as we can, and we also love Mexican and southwestern meals.  We do alot of kabobs on the grill, and steak fajitas are a favorite in our house as well.  I came across this package of beef for stew at the bulk warehouse:

When I opened this up at home, I was able to divide it into 4 meals- two kabob meals and two fajita meals.  These stew beef packs have small and large cuts of beef, so I simply fished out the bigger, even sized pieces and laid out my kabobs!

The remaining cuts were all different sizes and uneven, so I pulled out my tiny kitchen scale (from failed Weight Watchers attempts past), and weighed out around a pound per meal.  

Finally, I sealed them in freezer bags and labeled them clearly with the meals they are intended for:

The "strip meat" can also be used for stir fries or stews. You can also see that one of my kabob bags reads "Pair with chicken"- because it was lighter than the other.  I bought the single serving chicken breasts as well, so the night I make those kabobs, I can just pull a single chicken breast out of the freezer and use that for a kabob or two.

That is FOUR meals worth of meat for around 11 bucks!  (Can I get a "Boo Ya"??)

For my pork meals, I picked up this pack of 9 pork chops for around $16 at the bulk warehouse, and I thought "Cool beans, that's a good enough deal."

But when I got home and opened the package, I found I had hit the motherload!!  These chops were so thick...

...that I was actually able to slice them in half and I got 18 cuts of pork!!

WHAT!!!!  I know, right?!  JiggityJackpot!

As I said up there, I buy the single serve chicken because, frankly, the ease it allows me makes the small extra price worth it.  I did see a huge bulk pack of chicken breasts, but Dave and I are not fans of really thick cut chicken.  I might try to break down something like that in a future month.  Baby steps, people!

You'll note on my calendar for May that I didn't fill in the last couple nights of the month surrounding the Memorial Day weekend- because I do keep holidays and summertime grilling in mind.  I try to pick up an extra steak or two to keep in the freezer so I can pull it out if I see some nice weather ahead.  And on that note, although I'm pushing buying meat in bulk, you should really check out the meat for quick sale in the grocery store:

There's nothing wrong with this meat- they just need to clearance it out before it hits it's freeze-by date.  You can really find some good deals this way for back up meals to keep in your freezer!

Another tip- this Press 'n Seal stuff is awesome:

If you wrap your cuts of meat in this before you put them in the freezer bag, everything will last longer in the freezer.

And I'm not gonna lie to you--- Planning, shopping, unloading groceries, breaking down meat into individual meals and packing them for the freezer is almost an entire day's worth of work--- but honey, it is worth it.  Just put on some music so you can whistle while you work and think about all the time, money and energy you are saving in the long run.

I was one of those moms who, around 2pm every day thinks "Crap.  What should I make for dinner??"  so the huge burden of stress that was lifted from my shoulders has been indescribable!  I'm now in my 3rd month of The Cortney Dinner Schedule, and I can't imagine ever going back to another way of shopping.  If you had told me 5 years ago that I'd be this excited about shopping for food, I would have called you crazy.  But seriously?  When I saw this sign:

hanging above this massive log of pork:

I took one look at the price and my heart skipped a beat before I had to stop myself and say "Girl, you are not ready for that just yet!!!"  

And then I smiled to myself and thought, "But soon enough, you savvy mama.  soon enough..." 

*Disclaimer:  No, I wasn't paid to write this post by any grocery store, bulk warehouse, meat distributor or the fine folks at "Ziplock" or "Glad".  All these opinions are my own.  My taking the time to write such a long, informative post is just what makes me crazy like that.  And I hope you're inspired!

New Focus- A Haiku

Basement clean- Now back

to the gym to get rid of 

the junk in this trunk!

This post is inspired by Mama Knows It All's Tuesday Haiku Link-up!  Stop by her page to see more- They only take a moment to read but they just might brighten your whole day!

6 word memoir- family

Jennifer, Joey, Vicki, Jeanne, Jessica, Joanna.

*This post was inspired by Mama Kat's Writer's Workshop.

Haiku- Good Reason

Tuesday?  Try Friday.

My haiku is overdue;

But basement is CLEAN!

 

This post is inspired by Mama Knows It All's Tuesday Haiku Link-up!  Stop by her page to see more- They only take a moment to read but they just might brighten your whole day!

Six Word Memoir

  Twenty-six hours later there was you.

 

*This post was inspired by Mama Kat's Writer's Workshop.