Quiet Saturday thoughts

I'm at work on a Saturday.

Why? Because our eldest is doing a math competition in another building on campus, and it seemed silly to drive home, then come back. I can crank iTunes as loud as I want, with explicit tunes, and no one will bother me. I can finish a bunch of little projects that have been hanging over my head while she does her thing, then walk over in an hour or so to see the award ceremony.

It's so quiet at work, I figured I'd take a minute to blog about silly things:

Our son has a crush on "Miss Sandy Duncan." Santa brought the first season of The Muppet Show and we watch it quite a bit. My little guy also has a crush on Miss Janice. It is very cute.

My littlest is about to be potty trained. Very sad in some ways (darn it, she's growing up, and I can't deny it), but hey, no more money wasted on diapers. Yay!

Okay, weird. I'm listening to a cd my former boss gave us before he left, a bunch of songs he burned from his eclectic iTunes playlist. This track: Tony Bennett singing Def Leppard's "Jump". Um, ick.

My eldest has a real soccer coach for the first time ever. Usually it is some parent who is just trying to coach. But this year she scored a mom who is a trained coach, trying to build a resume to get a "real" coaching job. My eldest is super-thrilled.

Six weeks of heck

The next six weeks are going to be bad.

If you think I haven't posted much lately, just wait.

Some of it is child-related: Soccer starts x 2 this year. Middle child's birthday party is in there, too. Oh, and we are going to try and potty train the youngest over Easter break.

Some of it is work-related: Major speaker for Convocation series will come. Complete with protesters, because someone who is anti-war in this town will draw out all the pro-war folks. We've been catching heat on talk radio and letters to the editor for months. This happens the same week as middle child's birthday, btw. Oh, and Bob Barker is coming to speak at our commencement, and the Bob groupies are coming out of the woodwork.

No, I can't get you tickets, btw.

Some of it is politics-related: My kids' school was slated to lose a certified teacher this budget year. Problem: We don't have a teacher to spare. Many parents fought back, and we won a temporary reprieve from the school board. We get to keep the teacher this year. If the numbers aren't higher next year, we lose the teacher. No arguments. Guess who is one of the parents driving the new marketing committee for my kids' school?

Some of it is friend-family-work related: We have one weekend in there that has 1) a wedding 2) a family reunion 3) my husband presenting at a journalism conference.

So if you don't hear from me until after Mother's Day, don't send out search parties. I'm around. Just really, really, really freakin' busy.

Ugh. Mom's tired.

Still no replacement for my boss. The other assistant director and are are starting to fray from the workload. It's been three months, going on four. Two major events around the corner. Not good.

Tornado sirens went off at 4:30 a.m. this morning. Lucky us. I should have stayed up and did laundry. Instead, I attempted to sleep. My four-year-old son made sure I didn't actually get any.

One good thing: Happy birthday Cat in the Hat!!

Yay Dixie Chicks!

They cleaned up at the Grammys.

They deserved it. It's a great album, unlike a few others, which I have listened too. Other competitors had good songs, a couple of good hooks, but the Chicks had a solid album of awesomeness.

Other acts also probably didn't get death threats on a daily basis, and other acts actually had their music played on the radio.

I'm getting some sick pleasure from the fact that it also sticks it to the country conglomerate and Clear Channel. Enjoy your preprocessed country crud, which Haggard, Ford, Scruggs, and Lynn despised.

Working mom survival guide

My sister-in-law discovered the wonder of crockpots recently. They are a complete staple in our house. We couldn't eat without ours. At least once a week I'll cook something in there. Often, it's enough for two meals for us, a family of five. It's a big crockpot. ;)

Work has been awful (note the lack of posts) since my boss left for his new job, and the crockpot has been doing a lot of duty.

Some favorite recipes:

Roast Beef ala Crockpot
1 roast
1-2 cans beef broth or consumme
2 Tbsp. minced garlic
2 bay leaves
Pepper to taste
1 can cola of your choice (diet or regular, does not matter)
Carrots (as many as you like)
Pearl onions (if you like)

Put everything in the crockpot. Order does not matter, though I've noticed that the carrots don't necessarily cook all the way through if they aren't in the liquid. Turn crockpot on high for 10-12 hours.

To mix it up, sometimes I'll add a 1/2 c. of sherry or red wine. Sometimes I add mushrooms (I love portabella).

I'll make either mashed potatoes or noodles when I get home.

Spaghetti Sauce
1 pound ground beef, cooked
1 small can tomato paste
2 jars tomato sauce, or 1 jar Prego or Ragu or your favorite spaghetti sauce.
2 Tbsp. minced garlic (note: I love garlic. If you hate it, leave it out.)
1 Tbsp. Italian seasoning.
Mushrooms (as many as you like)

Mix all in crockpot. Stir mushrooms and meat through well. Cook on high 8 hours. Fix spaghetti when you get home.

For variety, I'll toss in all sorts of veggies (shhhh, don't tell the kids). Green and red and yellow peppers. Leftover eggplant. Whatever works.

A variation is to toss the noodles into the crockpot about 30 minutes before serving. I prefer the more traditional serving method (sauce ladled over spaghetti before eating), but for leftovers, if there are enough noodles, I'll toss 'em in and reheat.

My Mom's Soup, ala Crockpot
1 soup bone
Enough water to cover soup bone
1 28 oz. can tomato juice
1 can crushed tomatoes
Coupious amounts of seasoned salt or Mrs. Dash of your choice
1 bay leaf
Vegatables of your choice, chopped

Throw everything in pot. Cook for 5-6 hours on high, 8 or more on low.

At the last 30 minutes, either toss in rice *uncooked* or alphabet noodles *uncooked*.


I have more; I'll add a few some other time, but SpongeBob's almost over.

One more working mommy recipe to share:

Mommy-tracked's Hot Toddy
1-2 fingers of rum
Squirt of lemon juice
Dash of both nutmeg and cinnamon
1-2 fingers of piping hot water from teakettle
1 sugar cube

Mix. Enjoy!

Nine days.

That's how long it took to get power back to our house.

We are lucky: There are still about 10,000 people in the city without power. At least one professor I know is living out of his office with his family, still, 10 days after the storm.

Yesterday I took time off to clean the house, scrub the fridge and floors, and move our things over from the rental where we were staying. There's at least one more load left. I still need to clean our deep freeze of the primordal frozen ooze in the bottom. That's tonight's project. Ick.

This weekend will probably be spent chainsawing the brush and trees down in our back yard. We need to reset the rock around a flowerbed, too. The ice played havoc with that, as well.

All in all, we came out well, if a bit cranky and frazzled. And now we know what to do next time:

* Have water. Lots of bottled water. We never lost water, but I know people who did. Best to have enough to get each person through at least two days.

* Put fuel in your cars before the storm hits. We actually know this, but didn't do it. We've lived north for years, and before a blizzard comes, you fill your tank. This time, we were busy and rushed, I was sick, and so it didn't get done. Then we were among those scrambling for gas after the storm, when 90 percent of the city was out of power. No power = No working gas pumps.

* Plan what you'll need for at least a week if you have to leave your home. On this, we did pretty well. I packed clothing to get us through, warm things, and as much as I could cram in a suitcase.

* Take all your important papers with you. We forgot this, but at least we had the option of going back to our house a day later and getting them. If it had been a hurricane, we'd have been screwed. Insurance papers, passports, birth certificates, financial statements. Take them with you. Buy a fireproof safe to keep them in, one that you can carry.

* Check the batteries. The first night, we figured out we had two working flashlights, and one was a Fisher Price kids' version. Ditto on the weather radio/battery-operated radio. Once power's gone, you are toast.

* Keep a landline phone. We have this, and it helped family members to know they could call us. Our cells stayed charged (car chargers), but there's no guarantee of the towers staying up (my coverage was awful, and I had tons of dropped calls while I was trying to work that first Monday).

* Have food ready that can be cooked over a fire. Again, I did well. We had tons of canned food. We had a woodstove, so we could eat.

* Have tons of firewood. Again, we did fine here. My parents delivered a stack this fall, and it was enough to get us through.

* Wrap pipes. My husband had to scramble to Lowe's late one night to get insulation to wrap our pipes. We should have done it years ago (just good fuel economy, actually). But it keep our pipes from freezing.

* Have a back-up, back-up, back-up plan. Our back-up plan fell through when my cousin lost power. So did our back-up back-up. It was sheer luck that we found a place to stay, and didn't have to spend a fortune in hotel fees. Plan three steps away from what you think you'll need to do. Next time, we know we can go to our church and stay. Or my office. Neither is ideal, but both were warm and had access to showers.

The more you know.

May none of you ever have to use these tips, but get them lined up, just in case.

Crabby, man, am I ever

Still no power. At last count, there were 18,000 of us in the city without it. Snowstorm is on its way here, too. Joy.

Our yard is a wreck, limbs and two trees down. More could fall later, we'll just have to wait and see. Yet, we have it good: Some neighbors have trees on their homes, others are trapped by fallen trees in the next block up. They can't chainsaw the suckers: Powerlines are threaded throughout the mess.

You can tell at work now who has power and who doesn't: Those of us without power are cranky as all get out. It's been a week (as of 8 p.m. tonight). Most of us have been living elsewhere (hotels, offices, one friend had her family living in their restaurant). We've been checking property compulsively, both to keep pipes from freezing and to make sure our homes haven't been broken into yet.

It's exhausting.

Those of us still waiting for power are feeling a lot of sympathy for those who have been in hurricane hell. Katrina takes on a new perspective now. At least we can get to our stuff, and it hasn't washed away. I now understand how short-tempered you can get in a crisis. I'm trying to keep a good face for the kids and the overworked hubby (day 13 working now). But it is freakin' hard.

Does NOT help that I'm in a position of some limited power at work, and I'm getting heavier workloads from above, and folks from below who still need their projects done.

Crabby, thy name is Mommy-Tracked.

Happy news followed by citywide crisis

On Friday night, I learned that they found not only the kidnapped boy from my hometown, but another boy who had been missing for four years. We couldn't have had better news.

Two hours later, we were in the middle of a horrid ice storm without power and only a wood stove for heat.

Five days later, we still don't have electricity at our house. We're fine, thanks to the generosity of my husband's boss, who has a vacant rental home in the 10 percent of the city that never lost power. The kids are safe and relatively happy.

Until the ice melts (tomorrow, hopefully it will start melting), we're in danger of having one of several trees land on our home. Our house is surrounded by trees, which are right now coated in an inch of ice. So far, so good. We've lost trees, but they've avoided hitting anything important.

Photos will go up at a later date, but you can check our local newspaper for the damage photos around town. I've lived through ice storms before, but nothing like this.

Security shattered

I know that we can't keep our kids safe forever. The big bad world intervenes.

I know, for example, that there are three listed pedophiles within a mile of our house. Our kids know, too. They know pictures of these guys. They know that's why they can only play in the back yard, or the front yard with adult supervision.

But Monday afternoon, something happened to completely shatter my sense of having any secure place in this world.

A boy was kidnapped from a stop on my old childhood bus route. He's still not been found. I know his mother.

I grew up in a very rural area. People think (thought) nothing of letting kids walk a half mile home from the bus stop. Most of us hunted or hiked over miles of woods alone from the age of 10. I personally would go off on my bike with a neighbor boy and we'd go for five- or six-mile rides alone at 13.

Once, I was so annoyed at my mom, I took off through the woods for a waterfall I knew was on a neighbor's property. The sounds of water plunging four feet off the precipice soothed me.

My mother was frantic when I didn't come back for an hour. She had my uncle out searching for me. Not because she feared kidnapping, but because she feared I'd be shot.

It was deer season. I was wearing a brown coat. It was, in retrospect, an incredibly stupid thing to do.

But kidnapping was miles from her mind.

Now, when my kids go with me to the farm, I'm going to think twice about letting them hike alone. My eldest is at the same age I was granted freedom to wander the 300+ acres alone.

I can't let her do that now.

And the fact that I can't just breaks my heart.

New year, new post

Dude . . . I know you are in a rush and all, and it's Sunday at Target, which is only slightly less hellish than Sunday at Wal-Mart.

But. . .

This is a parking lot, not Le Mans.

Don't run me down as you move that Suburban around the lanes, trying to find the. perfect. close. parking. spot.

Just park the damn thing and walk like the rest of us.

Thank you.

Stay-at-home mom

The way the holidays landed this year, I decided it made sense to stay home this week. I get paid to stay with my kids and we don't spend on daycare.

Bonus.

So far, so good. This week has gone better than planned. Sure, we've had whining and fights, but not many. They've been playing together fairly well (thank you Santa for Hullaballo and more Thomas bridges).

We even survived a trip to Wal-Mart this morning for groceries, all three in tow, something I rarely attempt because it is a nightmare. Instead, the gentleman behind us in line complimented the kids on how well-behaved they were. Shocked, I am. But happy.

Tomorrow is a playdate with middle child's best friend. I'd like to catch a couple of movies and go ice skating, too, before the week is over.

If we could afford to have me stay at home full time, I think I'd do it. I feel so relaxed and on top of my mommy game right now. I'm getting projects done around the house that have piled up. I have time to play with the kids and enjoy them without being tired. The laundry isn't overwhelming, because I can do two loads a day and keep up.

Work seems more stressful than it is worth. I've been working so long for the paycheck, and not enjoying what I do, that this refresher was sorely needed.

Honestly, I'm dreading going back. It's not fulfilling or fun any longer. Work is a long, hard slog.

The kids are much more fun.

Ice

Melted.

Finally.

(oh, and hey, 100th post, for those interested in such stats)

Salt? Sand? What's that?

I really hate this city right now. It's been almost a week after the nasty ice storm hit here, and guess what?

Our neighborhood streets (heck, most neighborhood streets here) are still glass.

The city doesn't plow or sand or salt the neighborhood streets. Heck, by Sunday, some of the main roads were still utter messes, nearly three days after the storm.

I've always lived up north (St. Louis, Columbia, NY, Iowa, Chicago). They know how to plow. They send out multiple plows when the storm starts, not at the end. Some places better than others, but you can believe a week after a storm streets would be 90 percent snow/ice free, especially after multiple days in the low 40s.

They put down salt and sand. Even our neighborhood in Chicago, which didn't get plowed constantly, at least saw salt and sand trucks go through once a day.

No, here, they wait for it to melt.

That could be a while. Our neighborhood is lined in trees. Oh, and it's hilly. Did I mention that?

Grrrrrr. I want to move back north. Now.

Breakfast with the Jolly Elf

A few days late. My apologies, all three of our home computers are on the fritz.

We struggled through the snow and ice to get downtown for the event. Two days after the storm, no plowing of major arteries, and our neighborhood streets were glass. Fun.

Once there, once signed in, we settled in to pancakes, juice (or coffee, in my case) and bacon. Sang carols. Did art projects that made reindeer ornaments. (Where did I put those, now that I think of it? They must still be in the diaper bag.)

Middle child whined mightily because the balloon artist wasn't coming our way fast enough. You'd think the threat of Santa walking among us would be enough to stop that, but you'd be wrong. A balloon candy cane is wayyy more important to a four-year-old than impressing the big guy.

Youngest played shy with everyone: University president who came by to say "Hi"; my VP who did the same. Santa, too. The jolly old elf was fine from a distance ("Santwa!!"), but once we were in line for the lap-sit and chat, she wanted no part of it.

Her brother informed Santa what his little sister wanted, and pointed her out to the big guy, just in case.

Ticky-tacky gifts received from student ambassadors dressed as elves (really, not that bad. Santa hats and in red), we had to go back to the balloon guy to repair the popped blue part of the blue-and-white balloon candy cane before we could go home.

All in all, not any better or worse than last year. Kids had fun, hubby and I survived.

Oh, and city streets after ice and snow storm: Sucked.

Snow Day!!!

I'm as bad as the kids.

Yesterday morning, a particuarly bad ice/sleet/snow mix was headed our way. Every school district but ours closed in anticipation of a mess. Our superintendent was just hired from Colorado. He didn't understand that two inches of ice + snow here = disaster. The plows: Don't plow until the storm is done. Sand and salt? What's that?

I've lived here nearly four years, and they never clean the roads well. After living up north for years, it just boggles the mind.

At any rate, by noon, the roads were glass, and I was picking up the kids. An hour later, we made it home. I drove in sleet so falling so thick that visibility was nil.

Today, my older two are outside, reveling in the first significant snow they've seen since we moved here. First snow day in years. My youngest is two, and she's never seen snow.

She was not impressed. She was fine with sledding, if you carried her to the sled, sat with her on the sled, and then picked her up out of the sled, never once letting her brother's old SpongeBob snowboots touch the snow.

I just went out to let the dog frolick in the snow with the older two, and my kids look like yetis. You can't tell that they have on coats.

Later, we'll have hot chocolate and cookies. We'll clean up the house so we can decorate for Christmas tomorrow. The wood stove will be roaring with a fire.

A good snow day, all around.

Just wish my husband could enjoy it. The media never rests, and he's glued to his desk posting updates. He called at lunch, wistful tones in his voice. I know he'd love to sled. I might have to allow sledding after dark just so Dad can have his turn, too.

Be safe, all on the East. It's headed your way. It's nasty at first; beautiful later.

Sorry, busy

My boss's last day is two weeks away, and the other assistant director and I are swamped.

Quick wrap:

Kids had a blast at my family's farm. They were dirty filthy from playing in hay, cattle feed, and who knows what, but they had a great time. Tractors and four-wheelers and hikes through the woods, oh my!

We had a blast out at a Blues game and The Dubliner downtown with N&M. Sometimes, ya just gotta ditch the kids and go hang with college friends, who also ditched their kids.

Our kids hung out here with Grandma and Grandpa while we watched the Blues play pathetically poor hockey, so they weren't hurting.

Next post will be the Breakfast with Santa insanity. Wish us luck. Pray for patience for us.

Unsure and unhappy

Two bad days at work. Back-to-back.

I've already been questioning why I'm there . . . for months, actually. But nothing more appealing has opened up.

This past week has really done a number on my psyche. It's really hard to do my job when I don't feel respected, when I'm second-guessed. It's been even worse, recently, as more projects come down the pike, but no real help or new hires to take on some of the work load.

I had planned to take the afternoon today, anyway. My kids were out at noon because it is parent-teacher conferences days. It's nearly 80 degrees here today, so it was a good fall day to get out. Especially after a morning meeting didn't go well. I needed out, mentally and physically.

But the day in the sun with my kids, a picnic at the park, and a quick explore of the cave there helped. Some.

Vote

Please.

Thanks.

Three is a magic number

Years ago, we bought the Schoolhouse Rock DVD when it came out. Our eldest was fascinated by it, and as Gen Xers who grew up with it, we thought it was beyond cool.

After multiple watchings and a move from IL to here, we packed it away and didn't bother pulling it out. There's only so much Conjunction Junction one can stand.

I pulled it back out about a month ago, and our eldest rediscovered it, and our four-year-old son was mesmerized by it. He has favorites. He can sing entire songs. This from a kid who previously had zlich, zip, nada interest in anything educational.

We took all three to a local production of Schoolhouse Rock Live! recently. That's when I learned that "Three is a magic number" is my son's favorite episode.

He's now fascinated by it. He looks around the house for combinations of three. He's learned subtraction this week, just by figuring out how to get to 3, or 6, or 9. Basic multiplication: He's got it, at least when it's the 3s.

I'm blown over. It's like a switch flipped on in his head, and now he's learning by leaps and bounds. Math. Reading. He now spends hours with this phonics computer game we bought his older sister years ago. He spelled ANT last night, out of the blue.

Incredible.

It's inspired my little hyperkenetic kid to learn, more than 30 years after it was created to teach me (and the rest of us) to learn during Saturday morning cartoons.

Go crazy folks!

WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOHOOOOOOOOOOOO
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!

St. Louis Cardinals, World Series Champions!

My kids are happy, my daughter's thrilled that I'll no longer be stressing out by the TV. My brother is somewhere in downtown St. Louie right now, partying with the masses. Wish I were there with him.