Temporary Driver's Permits are a right of passage. Temps are one of the steps of moving towards adulthood - breaking free from your dependence on your parents. Most parents find this very stressful and yes, I am one of them. As you may have guessed, my twins have reached this point in life and have recently been given the privilege of obtaining theirs.
Quite frankly, I think I was more excited than them to go take the test than they were! I am sure the majority of parents dread their kids gaining this type of independence - I am NOT one of those. If you have ever read my blog, you know just exactly how much time I spend in the car. At this point, I am over it and ready to turn over some of the responsibility, even if it means I am home with out a car to drive. Okay that last sentence was a complete and total lie! I can't imagine being stuck at home with no way to leave for an extended period of time but I might learn to live with it for an hour or two. Anyway, we were on our way to the DMV and it occurred to me, what if one passes and one doesn't??? Crap! I didn't even think about how I would deal with a situation like that. Luckily, they both passed, we got their temps and two lovely "Student Driver" self cling stickers for the car window(s). Guess what? Those self proclaimed self cling stickers wouldn't stick to the car window! The girls got a lecture that their temps and driver's license, when given, were a privilege and could be revoked by their father or I at any time until they were 18 years old *evil laugh*. Oh and then there was one more thing, a paper for me. This paper will need to be signed by myself or their father stating we drove with them at least fifty hours while they had their temps before they can get their actual license.
A day or two went by and I felt ready to tackle the first driving lesson. I needed to pick Olivia up from a friends' after gymnastics anyway and Sarah wanted to come along. Abigail was the most eager so she hopped in the passenger seat and off we went to the high school parking lot. We went over some of the basics of the car, adjusting mirrors and seats, where the lights were, turning signals and all that jazz. She is ready to go. We drove around the parking lot for a while and finally it was time to head on over to get Olivia. I asked her if she felt comfortable enough to go on the open road and she said yes. We decided we would stay on back roads for every one's safety. As we turned out of the parking lot, I was still feeling pretty confident in my teaching ability. After all, my girls have four wheelers, they have driven our vehicles short distances on our land - this is going to be easy. Or not.
She turned out on the road, proceeded to the stoplight - so far, so good. We continue straight, go a little ways and I have to decide on the best route. Now, we live in a rural area and there are lots of options, my option turned out not to be the best. But as they say, all best laid plans...... Not to mention, it was dusk and rural. Yeah, in hindsight, I must have had a screw loose this night. Anyway, we turn on to Palmer Road and at first it's okay, it straight enough. We travel a little ways and it's time for a turn - Okay not terrific but we are all alive. Another turn - not great but it's okay she is just learning. However, it is growing darker by the minute. A sane person would say, lets pull over and I will drive the rest of the way, right? Well we all know I am clearly not sane and thus let her continue on. Sarah is being a pretty good sport, though I am sure she was getting nervous.
Alright we are now at 310 and she must turn right and immediately turn left - she does so and though her turns weren't great, we all survived! What I forgot about this particular route was just exactly how curvy this road is. As a seasoned driver you don't think about these sort of things because you know how to take curves....until you are in the passenger seat with a student driver, on a country road in the dark and it's too late. Let's just say, we made it out alive but not without me grabbing the steering wheel and screeching from the backseat that went exactly like this: OH MY GOSH! MY HEART HURTS!!! OH MY GOSH! OH MY GOSH! MY HEART JUST EXPLODED! Followed by tears. I am pretty sure that Sarah had a little panic attack. I in turn was laughing so hard at Sarah's exclamations that I nearly peed my pants. We finally got to our destination, picked up Olivia and I drove back home.
A few days later, ya know, after I got my nerves back, I decided it was time for Emma's lesson. Abigail wanted to come along to work on her turns, so once again we pile in to the car and head for the a local school which I had been told had a permanent student driver set up. We arrived and I gave Emma the same tour of the vehicle that I had given to Abigail. I turned over the keys and we began to cruise the parking lot. She did okay until we got to the cones. At first, she maneuvered really well through the cones, in and out. Great job Emma! Now this time go the other direction. Well we can't all be good at everything, right? She demolished two cones and decided she was done. Abigail drover us home.
What I learned from this experience is I am apparently a great teacher (minus my lapse in judgement on night driving on the first time out) for one child and a horrible teacher for the other. Guess what Scott? You get to teach Emma. Honestly, he is much better equipped to teach Emma anyway! She is in need of technical definitions. I take no issue with waving the white flag and tapping out. He took her a week later and she had no hesitation in telling me he was a MUCH better teacher than me. It's okay, really, I do not mind one bit! His nerves were shot and I welcomed him to the world of our children's driving education. After all, there are just some areas of parenting that must be shared.
Sincerely,
The Queen of Insanity
Sunday, May 11, 2014
Saturday, May 10, 2014
Catch Up
I know I am a totally irresponsible blogger. I come and go as I please and don't update very often. My explanation is simple - I have a life outside of this computer. If I hadn't got married at twenty, had four kids and put said kids in activities, I would have way more time to entertain. However, had I not done all of those crazy things, I would have nothing exciting to blog about, right?
To catch you all up, there have been more changes in this household since I last blogged. I may or may not have already covered them but I am not going back to read over my past blogs to see. This being said, I am sure my take on them now will be different than before, so sit back and enjoy my musings.
OPERATION CROCK POT RECAP - It is truly a great idea in theory. I managed to complete, give or take, twenty-five meals. There are some major flaws in this idea of pre-making meals as you will see below:
Okay, I have to be honest, I said I wasn't going to go back and browse through my old blogs - I did. Confession complete.
Olivia is still loving her new gym. I still love not working at the drug store. Lots of things to love. But then there was just one more thing, dance.....
In the fall, Olivia and Abigail started taking ballet technique classes at a brand new studio. This new studio is fantastic and complete with retired professional dancers, who now want to teach. Both girls have learned so much and I definitely believe it is worth every penny it has cost. However, with change there is always fall out.
Abigail, especially, has thrived in this new environment! She has learned about new and different techniques. Her execution of the old has improved and she is happy there. Originally this addition was merely meant to be a supplement. It quickly became obvious this was in no way going to be a supplemental situation - she wanted it all the time. She decided the following dance season that she would be moving dance studios all together.
*Enter Drama - Stage Left*
As you can imagine, making a decision to leave a studio you have been at for several years is not easy -add in a teaspoon of teenage girl, one cup of women and what you have is the beginnings of a spicy disaster! For the record, it is a dish best served cold!
Now I am going to put this right out there - Why yes women, I am throwing us all under the bus!" Get over it. I don't care who you are, if you are a woman you are 100% capable of drama, myself included. In my flimsy defense, I have a whole lot of no patience for drama created outside of myself and therefore my reactions to drama are swift and not always well thought out. While my swift reactions aren't always well thought out, I rarely have regrets about making them. This is how I roll - sorry haters!
In the months building up to the complete change of studios, there was a lot of unspoken animosity. Then slowly but surely the animosity became verbal. It was never specifically addressed just little jabs here and there. One episode was about shoes. Abigail had some money and wanted to buy herself a pair of lyrical shoes. *Mom does touchdown dance* I took her to the dance store and rather than buying the usual foot undies, she decided on a pair of crossover lyrical shoes (I can never remember what they are called). She decided on them because she knew she would eventually be moving to the new studio and wanted to be prepared. I, being optimistic, suggested she take them with her to assist at old studio one night. I suggested because she was excited about them and it wasn't her night to dance - in my mind, a good opportunity to get a feel for them. Mom's out there, you do not always know best! I know it's Mother's Day weekend and all but I can not even lie in hindsight and say it was the most brilliant idea I ever had. Words were spoken to Abigail about the shoes.
Between January and the time we finally left, several other incidents happened. I won't bore you with all the mundane details, just know my daughter was made to feel very uncomfortable on more than one occasion. I will also say whether real or perceived, it could have all gone down very differently if Abigail had more life experience. This is not the case, she is merely 15 years old and still learning how to deal with difficult situations. I, however, am an adult with a lot of life experience and know how I handle these issues - head on.
Competition season began and we made it through all of the drama...well almost all of it. The very last competition weekend came, they spicy disaster exploded and that was that. Even before Abigail's last performance that weekend, I made a decision - one more thing and I am done. Guess what? Oh, I already gave it away, something else happened! I was done. My decision to leave did not come without pain. Abigail lost her little students, whom she loved dearly and never got an opportunity to say goodbye too. I lost a friend.
What Abigail has gained far out measures the losses. It was incredibly difficult to watch her suffer the loss of comfortable and I am sure she thinks I am a total psycho now. My hope is she understands now that while change is hard, it is a necessary evil to grow and to learn. That everything worthwhile comes with a little bit of anguish and the end result can bring the greatest of accomplishments. If she thinks I am a little psycho, that's okay too! A good healthy fear of your Mom going off the rails sometimes is acceptable.
In other news, my husband got promoted at work, we are 100% free of rental properties and life is a lot calmer around here. I know this isn't great news for all of you, but for me, it's about damn time! Sarah is taking Irish Step Dancing at the new studio - it is hilarious but I think after a few more lessons, she is going to be amazing at it. Emma is still a recluse, getting good grades - bragging opportunity here: She even got an academic letter! Oh and even more exciting for the twins, not so much the parental units, they got their temps. That in and of itself requires a whole other post, will try to get to that later!
Sincerely,
The Queen of Insanity
To catch you all up, there have been more changes in this household since I last blogged. I may or may not have already covered them but I am not going back to read over my past blogs to see. This being said, I am sure my take on them now will be different than before, so sit back and enjoy my musings.
OPERATION CROCK POT RECAP - It is truly a great idea in theory. I managed to complete, give or take, twenty-five meals. There are some major flaws in this idea of pre-making meals as you will see below:
- Remembering you have labored in the kitchen to pre-make crock pot meals
- Remembering to pull one out of the freezer the night before
- Trying to pry one of the bags apart from the other stack of meals
- Remember to put them in crock pot the next morning
- Remember to turn crock pot on
- Convincing youngest child that eldest child is a liar, it tastes great!
- Cleaning crock pot over and over again (*note to self* buy liners for crock pot)
Okay, I have to be honest, I said I wasn't going to go back and browse through my old blogs - I did. Confession complete.
Olivia is still loving her new gym. I still love not working at the drug store. Lots of things to love. But then there was just one more thing, dance.....
In the fall, Olivia and Abigail started taking ballet technique classes at a brand new studio. This new studio is fantastic and complete with retired professional dancers, who now want to teach. Both girls have learned so much and I definitely believe it is worth every penny it has cost. However, with change there is always fall out.
Abigail, especially, has thrived in this new environment! She has learned about new and different techniques. Her execution of the old has improved and she is happy there. Originally this addition was merely meant to be a supplement. It quickly became obvious this was in no way going to be a supplemental situation - she wanted it all the time. She decided the following dance season that she would be moving dance studios all together.
*Enter Drama - Stage Left*
As you can imagine, making a decision to leave a studio you have been at for several years is not easy -add in a teaspoon of teenage girl, one cup of women and what you have is the beginnings of a spicy disaster! For the record, it is a dish best served cold!
Now I am going to put this right out there - Why yes women, I am throwing us all under the bus!" Get over it. I don't care who you are, if you are a woman you are 100% capable of drama, myself included. In my flimsy defense, I have a whole lot of no patience for drama created outside of myself and therefore my reactions to drama are swift and not always well thought out. While my swift reactions aren't always well thought out, I rarely have regrets about making them. This is how I roll - sorry haters!
In the months building up to the complete change of studios, there was a lot of unspoken animosity. Then slowly but surely the animosity became verbal. It was never specifically addressed just little jabs here and there. One episode was about shoes. Abigail had some money and wanted to buy herself a pair of lyrical shoes. *Mom does touchdown dance* I took her to the dance store and rather than buying the usual foot undies, she decided on a pair of crossover lyrical shoes (I can never remember what they are called). She decided on them because she knew she would eventually be moving to the new studio and wanted to be prepared. I, being optimistic, suggested she take them with her to assist at old studio one night. I suggested because she was excited about them and it wasn't her night to dance - in my mind, a good opportunity to get a feel for them. Mom's out there, you do not always know best! I know it's Mother's Day weekend and all but I can not even lie in hindsight and say it was the most brilliant idea I ever had. Words were spoken to Abigail about the shoes.
Between January and the time we finally left, several other incidents happened. I won't bore you with all the mundane details, just know my daughter was made to feel very uncomfortable on more than one occasion. I will also say whether real or perceived, it could have all gone down very differently if Abigail had more life experience. This is not the case, she is merely 15 years old and still learning how to deal with difficult situations. I, however, am an adult with a lot of life experience and know how I handle these issues - head on.
Competition season began and we made it through all of the drama...well almost all of it. The very last competition weekend came, they spicy disaster exploded and that was that. Even before Abigail's last performance that weekend, I made a decision - one more thing and I am done. Guess what? Oh, I already gave it away, something else happened! I was done. My decision to leave did not come without pain. Abigail lost her little students, whom she loved dearly and never got an opportunity to say goodbye too. I lost a friend.
What Abigail has gained far out measures the losses. It was incredibly difficult to watch her suffer the loss of comfortable and I am sure she thinks I am a total psycho now. My hope is she understands now that while change is hard, it is a necessary evil to grow and to learn. That everything worthwhile comes with a little bit of anguish and the end result can bring the greatest of accomplishments. If she thinks I am a little psycho, that's okay too! A good healthy fear of your Mom going off the rails sometimes is acceptable.
In other news, my husband got promoted at work, we are 100% free of rental properties and life is a lot calmer around here. I know this isn't great news for all of you, but for me, it's about damn time! Sarah is taking Irish Step Dancing at the new studio - it is hilarious but I think after a few more lessons, she is going to be amazing at it. Emma is still a recluse, getting good grades - bragging opportunity here: She even got an academic letter! Oh and even more exciting for the twins, not so much the parental units, they got their temps. That in and of itself requires a whole other post, will try to get to that later!
Sincerely,
The Queen of Insanity
Thursday, March 20, 2014
OPERATION CROCKPOT
In my spare time I peruse Facebook and Pinterest. One can find out lots of great information on both sites. On Facebook, you can find out who went to the gym, who is having a good or bad day, who's sick, who's depressed and who has too much time on their hands. You can literally find out anything on Facebook. Pinterest, oh how do I love thee? I love thee around the world and back again. It is FABULOUS! It is amazing how many ideas you can get there.
The other day I was on Facebook when I noticed some one's post about 40 meals in 4 hours. Alright, I took a nibble and clicked on the link. It seemed legit. The link took me to a site entitled: Who Needs A Cape (just in case you are interested). The very title intrigued me because you know who does need a cape? ME! I need a cape or a clone. May be both, yes I need both! A girl can dream.
This website claims you can make forty meals in four hours. I am reading the plan, the recipes (all of which sound delicious) and decide to take the challenge. How hard can it be to prepare forty crockpot meals, place them in freezer bags, seal and throw it in the freezer for later use. I can do this! I am going to be prepared to feed my family for at least forty days. Yes! I. AM. GONNA. ROCK. THIS! The great news, they have have it all set up for you. Master Shopping List - Check. Recipes - Check. I went to bed excited about my shopping excursion the next morning.
The best laid plans....You can finish the rest of the that cliche statement. At around 4:30am, I was awakened by a child calling my name. "Mom! Mom! MOMMY????" This is when I think to myself, "Doesn't she see her Dad laying over there, peacefully sleeping?" I digress. I peel open my eye and see the littlest of the clan standing there and she begins to tell me she is sick. Not only was she sick but she was "sick" downstairs by the couch, by the bathroom door, by the island and no worries, I have a bowl now. My response, I am sorry honey....go lay down on the couch and back to sleep. I was awoken again about an hour or so later by my husband, informing me Sarah had thrown up all over the place but no worries, he had cleaned it up. Dang it! I really thought I had dreamt the whole conversation. After all, I have plans to go to the commissary (an hours drive) as soon as I got the littles on the school bus. This should have been my first clue this wasn't going to turn out as amazing as I had first thought.
Since Sarah was going to be home with me all day, I decided no time like the present to get the kitchen ready for my project. I tended to Sarah as needed. She was overall, happy. If I had to guess, it was the unlimited popsicles that kept her in positive spirits. She slept for about 2.5 hours with Mabel at her side. When she finally woke, she seemed to be feeling a little better. I determined I could still make the trip to the commissary when the twins got home, after all, her amazing (because he cleans up vomit) father would be home soon enough.
Even my best attempts to be organized are foiled by, none other than, myself. Look, some people are naturally "together". I, however, am not one of those people. I had a master shopping list - it should be easy enough to find the items I need. They were even separated and organized, primarily by topic; Dry ingredients, wet ingredients, meats, etc. Helpful, right? Nope, not for me. The only way this would have been helpful to me is if they were listed by aisle, section and shelf number and even then, I probably still would have struggled. Not to mention, the prices at the commissary are typically way cheaper than your average grocery store. I am looking for one thing and then a dang squirrel runs through the aisle and Shut the front door! Brand name 28 ounce canned tomato sauce for 75 cents??? I need ten of those and NO WAY! There are squirrels all over the commissary.
I am about half way done, my cart is full and lucky for me, a nice employee sees my overflowing cart and fetches me another. Hello customer service. She takes my full cart and puts it in a coral of sorts with a sign, "Don't bother, I'm still shopping" or something to this effect. Finally I am finished and head to wrangle my other cart. I am now in line, it's my turn and they direct me to register. If you have never shopped at a commissary, it is very military. You shall not pick your own line, we will pick for you. You shall not bag your own groceries, as we have supplied military spouses (mainly non english speaking) to bag them and you will tip them. Anyway, I start unloading my groceries onto the conveyor belt I was directed to. Alright, plenty of room to get a good start on emptying my cart. Then it happens. The lady in front of me whips out a stack of coupons two inches thick. I am not even joking, it could have been three inches thick. So it begins....beep...BEEEP!
"Oh dear! You needed two of those to use this coupon ma'am"
"Did I? Honey (her husband), Can you run back and grab one more?"
Beep...Beep...BEEEEEEP!
"This coupon says you have to purchase X with that"
"Honey, Can you go grab xyz?"
This cycle continued over and over and over. I waited in line for a good forty minutes while the cashier and customer dealt with all of her coupon drama. Quite frankly, I should have been given a Nobel Peace Prize for not going completely and totally balistic. Seriously.
It's finally my turn to check out and the cashier is visibly frustrated. I am thinking to myself, "Why does Class 6 close so early?" and she began to ring up my items. The non-english speaking bagger, bagging away and I am watching my total go up, up and up....I can not admit how much I spent on this particular trip. Let's just say my family will not be starving for at least forty days (So says Who Needs A Cape)
After I paid for my groceries, I went to get my car and pulled up to the loading area. The non-english speaking bagger pushed my four carts over and started to load them into my trunk. Since I had waited forever and a day to check out, I decided to help the process along and started to grab some of my bags. The bagger kept cutting me off. Now, they work for tips. I get that. I was in no way going to short her her tip. I simply wanted the car loaded so I could make the trek home. Finally the car was loaded, I handed her the tip - she thanked me (at least I think she thanked me) over and over.
The next day, was THE day. I gathered all of the recipes, spices, veggies, meats, ziploc bags, colorful sharpies and my apron. I was ready for Operation Crockpot.
I began putting the recipes together, filling the ziploc bags with them and placing them one after another. I worked all morning. About three hours in I had four bags done. Uh. Yeah. Ummmm. According to the website, I should have around thirty meals put together by now. I had four! Let me count these bags again. One, two, three and four. Yup four bags done. Well, four bags is more than none, right? At this point I am completely exhausted from all the work, despite the fact that Miss Sarah was home again and helping me. I needed to eat something and take a nap. Who knew prepping meals could be so draining?
Eventually I woke and lucky for me the twins were home from school. You know what that meant? Child labor. Abigail was more than willing, well sort of, and the littles were somewhat helpful. Emma, she was not so helpful because she was nowhere to be found. With the help of three children, we were able to knock out several more. Forty? Yeah, no! The following day, I put together a few more. Forty? You guessed it! No.
Quite honestly, I am not sure if it is even possible to accomplish forty meals in four hours. I had darn near a staff and wasn't able to accomplish forty meals in four hours! Operation Crockpot was still a success. I have several meals prepared and work on more meals as I have time. My advice to anyone thinking of pulling off their own Operation Crockpot - start small.
Sincerely,
The Queen of Insanity
The other day I was on Facebook when I noticed some one's post about 40 meals in 4 hours. Alright, I took a nibble and clicked on the link. It seemed legit. The link took me to a site entitled: Who Needs A Cape (just in case you are interested). The very title intrigued me because you know who does need a cape? ME! I need a cape or a clone. May be both, yes I need both! A girl can dream.
This website claims you can make forty meals in four hours. I am reading the plan, the recipes (all of which sound delicious) and decide to take the challenge. How hard can it be to prepare forty crockpot meals, place them in freezer bags, seal and throw it in the freezer for later use. I can do this! I am going to be prepared to feed my family for at least forty days. Yes! I. AM. GONNA. ROCK. THIS! The great news, they have have it all set up for you. Master Shopping List - Check. Recipes - Check. I went to bed excited about my shopping excursion the next morning.
The best laid plans....You can finish the rest of the that cliche statement. At around 4:30am, I was awakened by a child calling my name. "Mom! Mom! MOMMY????" This is when I think to myself, "Doesn't she see her Dad laying over there, peacefully sleeping?" I digress. I peel open my eye and see the littlest of the clan standing there and she begins to tell me she is sick. Not only was she sick but she was "sick" downstairs by the couch, by the bathroom door, by the island and no worries, I have a bowl now. My response, I am sorry honey....go lay down on the couch and back to sleep. I was awoken again about an hour or so later by my husband, informing me Sarah had thrown up all over the place but no worries, he had cleaned it up. Dang it! I really thought I had dreamt the whole conversation. After all, I have plans to go to the commissary (an hours drive) as soon as I got the littles on the school bus. This should have been my first clue this wasn't going to turn out as amazing as I had first thought.
Since Sarah was going to be home with me all day, I decided no time like the present to get the kitchen ready for my project. I tended to Sarah as needed. She was overall, happy. If I had to guess, it was the unlimited popsicles that kept her in positive spirits. She slept for about 2.5 hours with Mabel at her side. When she finally woke, she seemed to be feeling a little better. I determined I could still make the trip to the commissary when the twins got home, after all, her amazing (because he cleans up vomit) father would be home soon enough.
Even my best attempts to be organized are foiled by, none other than, myself. Look, some people are naturally "together". I, however, am not one of those people. I had a master shopping list - it should be easy enough to find the items I need. They were even separated and organized, primarily by topic; Dry ingredients, wet ingredients, meats, etc. Helpful, right? Nope, not for me. The only way this would have been helpful to me is if they were listed by aisle, section and shelf number and even then, I probably still would have struggled. Not to mention, the prices at the commissary are typically way cheaper than your average grocery store. I am looking for one thing and then a dang squirrel runs through the aisle and Shut the front door! Brand name 28 ounce canned tomato sauce for 75 cents??? I need ten of those and NO WAY! There are squirrels all over the commissary.
I am about half way done, my cart is full and lucky for me, a nice employee sees my overflowing cart and fetches me another. Hello customer service. She takes my full cart and puts it in a coral of sorts with a sign, "Don't bother, I'm still shopping" or something to this effect. Finally I am finished and head to wrangle my other cart. I am now in line, it's my turn and they direct me to register. If you have never shopped at a commissary, it is very military. You shall not pick your own line, we will pick for you. You shall not bag your own groceries, as we have supplied military spouses (mainly non english speaking) to bag them and you will tip them. Anyway, I start unloading my groceries onto the conveyor belt I was directed to. Alright, plenty of room to get a good start on emptying my cart. Then it happens. The lady in front of me whips out a stack of coupons two inches thick. I am not even joking, it could have been three inches thick. So it begins....beep...BEEEP!
"Oh dear! You needed two of those to use this coupon ma'am"
"Did I? Honey (her husband), Can you run back and grab one more?"
Beep...Beep...BEEEEEEP!
"This coupon says you have to purchase X with that"
"Honey, Can you go grab xyz?"
This cycle continued over and over and over. I waited in line for a good forty minutes while the cashier and customer dealt with all of her coupon drama. Quite frankly, I should have been given a Nobel Peace Prize for not going completely and totally balistic. Seriously.
It's finally my turn to check out and the cashier is visibly frustrated. I am thinking to myself, "Why does Class 6 close so early?" and she began to ring up my items. The non-english speaking bagger, bagging away and I am watching my total go up, up and up....I can not admit how much I spent on this particular trip. Let's just say my family will not be starving for at least forty days (So says Who Needs A Cape)
After I paid for my groceries, I went to get my car and pulled up to the loading area. The non-english speaking bagger pushed my four carts over and started to load them into my trunk. Since I had waited forever and a day to check out, I decided to help the process along and started to grab some of my bags. The bagger kept cutting me off. Now, they work for tips. I get that. I was in no way going to short her her tip. I simply wanted the car loaded so I could make the trek home. Finally the car was loaded, I handed her the tip - she thanked me (at least I think she thanked me) over and over.
The next day, was THE day. I gathered all of the recipes, spices, veggies, meats, ziploc bags, colorful sharpies and my apron. I was ready for Operation Crockpot.
I began putting the recipes together, filling the ziploc bags with them and placing them one after another. I worked all morning. About three hours in I had four bags done. Uh. Yeah. Ummmm. According to the website, I should have around thirty meals put together by now. I had four! Let me count these bags again. One, two, three and four. Yup four bags done. Well, four bags is more than none, right? At this point I am completely exhausted from all the work, despite the fact that Miss Sarah was home again and helping me. I needed to eat something and take a nap. Who knew prepping meals could be so draining?
Eventually I woke and lucky for me the twins were home from school. You know what that meant? Child labor. Abigail was more than willing, well sort of, and the littles were somewhat helpful. Emma, she was not so helpful because she was nowhere to be found. With the help of three children, we were able to knock out several more. Forty? Yeah, no! The following day, I put together a few more. Forty? You guessed it! No.
Quite honestly, I am not sure if it is even possible to accomplish forty meals in four hours. I had darn near a staff and wasn't able to accomplish forty meals in four hours! Operation Crockpot was still a success. I have several meals prepared and work on more meals as I have time. My advice to anyone thinking of pulling off their own Operation Crockpot - start small.
Sincerely,
The Queen of Insanity
Tuesday, March 18, 2014
Guess Who's Back??
Holy cow! It's been so long since I have blogged, I had to come back to my original blog because I can't remember the new blog password! Regardless, I am back from my blogging sabbatical and I have lots and lots of stuff to blog about it - Lucky for you my plans for the day were derailed, thanks to a stomach virus striking my youngest offspring overnight.
You may or may not remember my crazy schedule. It left me with absolutely no personal time to reflect and/or share my insanity with you. I couldn't complete a thought in my head let alone type it for your enjoyment. Those days are somewhat over now and I hope to get you all caught up quickly.
About two months ago, I found some time to sit down on the couch and relax. Within moments I had one child on the arm of the couch next to me, one on my lap and the other at my side (I am assuming Emma was in her room - as this is where she spends a great deal of her time). I looked at each of them and thought to myself, "Dear God give me a break already!", I just wanted to sit there, lifeless on the couch and lose myself in Lifetime Movie Network. I tried to shoo them away, no dice. I tried threatening them with chores, still no dice. I tried every trick I could think of...they sat firmly beside me. They simply would not budge! Finally I said, "DO YOU ALL HAVE TO SIT ON TOP OF ME? I NEED SOME PERSONAL SPACE!". They all looked at me like I was crazy and then it flew out of the mouth of my babes, "But Mom we miss you!". At that moment, I knew what I had to do.
Two weeks later, I turned in my immediate notice to CVS and that, my friends, was that.
After quitting my part-time job, there was something else that had been eating away at me for sometime - Olivia's gymnastics. Not only did gymnastics eat away any and all free-time, it ate away the entire fabric of our lives. Let's face it, shall we? Olivia is eight years old. Does an eight year old have to be in the gym five days, sixteen hours a week? NO! Let me clarify, this was not the only reason I was miffed. I was downright aggravated, pissed off if you will, at the lack of coaching my daughter was getting. I knew in my heart she could do better. I took a brave step and called another gym.
When I told Olivia we were going to try out a new gym, she was a little shocked. Her first response was, "Won't my coach be mad at me?". My response, "Quite frankly Olivia, I don't give a damn!" HA! Just kidding, I said it in child friendly terms. I proceeded to tell her all the perks of the new gym - First and foremost, more free time to play with her friends! Which lead to her next response, "What about my friends?". I replied in the nicest way possible, stating two things: 1. We aren't paying for you to do gymnastics to make friends - you can get them for free at school! 2. Okay that was kind of harsh....we will stay in contact with your friends from the gym, I promise. As it turned out, several of her friends came with us - Problem solved!
Changing gyms was bittersweet. We left behind many friends but in the end it was truly the best choice. Olivia only has gymnastics three days a week now, unless we do a private. She has some of her friends from the previous gym with her and is making new ones. She had to go down a level in training (further explanation of my aggravation) but the benefit has been regaining success. She has had two competitions since the move and each time her scores have improved immensely. The best part of it has been seeing her happiness and love of gymnastics return.
The best part for me, personally, I have free-time again! My kids are still close by me when I am home - I think they just like me and I am okay with that!
Sincerely,
The Queen of Insanity
You may or may not remember my crazy schedule. It left me with absolutely no personal time to reflect and/or share my insanity with you. I couldn't complete a thought in my head let alone type it for your enjoyment. Those days are somewhat over now and I hope to get you all caught up quickly.
About two months ago, I found some time to sit down on the couch and relax. Within moments I had one child on the arm of the couch next to me, one on my lap and the other at my side (I am assuming Emma was in her room - as this is where she spends a great deal of her time). I looked at each of them and thought to myself, "Dear God give me a break already!", I just wanted to sit there, lifeless on the couch and lose myself in Lifetime Movie Network. I tried to shoo them away, no dice. I tried threatening them with chores, still no dice. I tried every trick I could think of...they sat firmly beside me. They simply would not budge! Finally I said, "DO YOU ALL HAVE TO SIT ON TOP OF ME? I NEED SOME PERSONAL SPACE!". They all looked at me like I was crazy and then it flew out of the mouth of my babes, "But Mom we miss you!". At that moment, I knew what I had to do.
Two weeks later, I turned in my immediate notice to CVS and that, my friends, was that.
After quitting my part-time job, there was something else that had been eating away at me for sometime - Olivia's gymnastics. Not only did gymnastics eat away any and all free-time, it ate away the entire fabric of our lives. Let's face it, shall we? Olivia is eight years old. Does an eight year old have to be in the gym five days, sixteen hours a week? NO! Let me clarify, this was not the only reason I was miffed. I was downright aggravated, pissed off if you will, at the lack of coaching my daughter was getting. I knew in my heart she could do better. I took a brave step and called another gym.
When I told Olivia we were going to try out a new gym, she was a little shocked. Her first response was, "Won't my coach be mad at me?". My response, "Quite frankly Olivia, I don't give a damn!" HA! Just kidding, I said it in child friendly terms. I proceeded to tell her all the perks of the new gym - First and foremost, more free time to play with her friends! Which lead to her next response, "What about my friends?". I replied in the nicest way possible, stating two things: 1. We aren't paying for you to do gymnastics to make friends - you can get them for free at school! 2. Okay that was kind of harsh....we will stay in contact with your friends from the gym, I promise. As it turned out, several of her friends came with us - Problem solved!
Changing gyms was bittersweet. We left behind many friends but in the end it was truly the best choice. Olivia only has gymnastics three days a week now, unless we do a private. She has some of her friends from the previous gym with her and is making new ones. She had to go down a level in training (further explanation of my aggravation) but the benefit has been regaining success. She has had two competitions since the move and each time her scores have improved immensely. The best part of it has been seeing her happiness and love of gymnastics return.
The best part for me, personally, I have free-time again! My kids are still close by me when I am home - I think they just like me and I am okay with that!
Sincerely,
The Queen of Insanity
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