I Thought I Had More Time

There is a time in childrens' lives that every parent dreads. Ok, so to be honest, there are lots of moments that parents dread. We just continue to think they'll never come.

I reached a milestone this week that I thought I had years to reach. Years. Lots of them.

I had no idea that I'd be stumped by kindergarten homework.

Yes, that's right. I was unable to help my kindergartener with his homework. I couldn't figure it out, and even my husband is struggling.

This does not bode well for his grades in high school. *sigh* But I have to give myself a little bit of a reprieve. Space has never been my best subject. There are certain things that I just don't like and therefore never learned anything about -- Mister Man's obsession of dinosaurs is my other big disinterest.

This week, the kindergarteners are charged with watching the night skies. Thank you, teacher, who decided to do the space unit in January when it's freezing (literally) outside instead of waiting until ohhh I don't know, May!

Not only do they need to watch the night sky, but they need to identify it.

Moon? Check.

Big Dipper? Check. (Whoo, go me!)

Little Dipper? Uhhhh, yeah.

Casseopeia? Oh, please.

Orion? Are you kidding me?!

I've never figured out constellations. They just don't make sense to me. They are stars in the sky, and they're pretty. That's about as far as my stargazing knowledge goes.

But this week, I'm spending my time staring at a constellation map and comparing it to the sky. Then I turn my map around and squint to see if that helps. I turn it a bit further and then sigh in frustration.

Did I also mention that we're in a new moon phase, which means there isn't much of a moon to see? At least that makes drawing the moon easy. And thankfully, we don't have to draw the other constellations, just say if we could see them or not.

Tonight I was exceedingly grateful that it was cloudy. We walked outside, saw no stars, turned around, and I know we got the answers right for once!

What was the first homework that stumped you?

Drip Drip Drip Drip

I always have a to do list - as I'm sure most of us do - but somehow, I never seem to get to the bottom of that list. In fact, rarely do I make it

It has finally dawned on me why I seem to wake up, start my day, and then turn around to see that it's suddenly bedtime. It's all the little things that I have to do around the house to make it function properly.

This is a perfect example. This morning, I opened up the dishwasher, and I saw what my family had left for me.

When the dishwasher is turned on with dishes strewn about like this, inevitably one or two gets turned over, and ick gathers in it during the wash cycle. Other dishes quite simply don't get cleaned.

And let's not forget the dishes that don't fit into the dishwasher and are instead sitting on the counter atop the dishwasher.

(On the plus side, they aren't in the sink. I can't stand touching dishes when they've been sitting in the sink. They gross me out, and my husband knows I refuse to do anything with them if he puts them in there. He's slowly learning to avoid this.)

I sighed when I saw the mess. And then I spent the next fifteen minutes unloading and reloading the dishwasher into some semblance of order so that all the dishes would get clean. Note that even the dishes that "didn't fit" are now neatly arranged in the dishwasher. Note, too, that there is even room for additional dishes. Huh.

And then after I redid the dishwasher, I found all the books that were strewn about the house and put them back on their appropriate shelves. Then I resorted the laundry (we have three hampers so each type of clothing can go into its appropriate hamper and I merely have to toss a full hamper into the washer - or so it happens in an ideal world). Next up was taking down all the Christmas decorations that my husband hadn't noticed when volunteering for the job, digging out the Christmas boxes, and unpacking and repacking them so that all the forgotten decorations somehow fit. None of this was on my to do list, of course, but it all needed to be done so that there were no children crying when a certain book was "lost," no white shirts that suddenly came out of the wash pink, and our house was fit for post-holiday entertaining.

I think it's the life of moms that there is the perrenial to do list simply continues on. I have great faith that someday I'll complete that to do list, but until then - if you'll excuse me - I see some Legos on the rug here that are going to get eaten by a cat or lost if I don't put them in the Lego bin soon.

Tasty Tuesday!

After church this weekend, a friend of mine stopped me to tell me that she'd made one of my recipes (they're in a fundraising cookbook) and had really enjoyed it.  As she told me about it, my mouth started watering, and I realized it had been a long time since I'd made this one myself. Granted, I haven't made it in the last twenty-four hours, but I'm hoping this is my reminder and impetus to do so.

And yes, I promise this is another easy one!

Chocolate and Caramel Tart

Crust
Ingredients:
1/3 c butter, softened
2 oz cream cheese, softened
1 c flour
1 T powdered sugar
2-3 T cold water

Directions:
In a medium bowl, beat together the butter, cream cheese, and flour. Add the powdered sugar and only enough water as is needed to hold together the dough.

Shape into a flattened ball. Cover with plastic and chill for 30 minutes. Roll out on a lightly floured surface until large enough to fill a 10" tart pan with a removeable bottom.

Caramel Filling
Ingredients:
1/3 c butter
1 14 oz can sweetened, condensed milk (NOT evaporate milk!)
2 T packed brown sugar

Directions:
In a medium saucepan, combine butter, condensed milk, and brown sugar. Stir over medium heat for about ten minutes or until mixture is pale and thick.

Remove from heat and cool slightly. Spread evenly over the crust, and let stand ten minutes until set. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Chocolate Filling
Ingredients:
1/3 c butter
1/2 c granulated sugar
3 oz semi-sweet chocolate, chopped
1 egg
1/3 c flour
2 T dark cocoa powder
powdered sugar for dusting

Directions:
In a small saucepan, combine butter and sugar and heat until butter is melted and mixture is warm. Remove from the heat and stir in the chocolate until melted. Add the egg, flour, and cocoa, and stir until well combined.

Spread over the caramel filling and bake 28-30 minutes or until just set. Cool in the pan. Dust with powdered sugar just before serving.

When I make this, I pretty much finish one step and start the next one, and the timing works out fairly well. This is so good and so rich, but sooo worth it!

Enjoy this and more with Blessed With Grace and Tempt My Tummy Tuesday!

Not Quite Fit For Tasty Tuesday...

The wee ones and I enjoy our baking, and it's fascinating to watch them become enthralled in all aspects of it (with the exception of the time each item spends in the oven, but I do vaguely remember making cookie dough and then running off leaving my poor mom to scoop out all the cookies and bake them, returning only in time to sample the wares).

Whenever we bake, the wee ones want to know what the next ingredient is. They want to smell it and touch it and taste it. And for the most part I let them.

They want to put the ingredients in by themselves, and for the most part, I let them do that, as well. Mister Man is actually getting fairly proficient in scooping out level cups of ingredients.

They're both getting pretty good at cracking eggs, as well. I would never have let them try, but a cooking class I took once had a teacher who kept insisting that she could teach four year olds to crack eggs with one hand. And to be honest, the wee ones generally do a pretty good job with the eggs. They're more prone to become nervous that they're going to spill the egg and have me take over than they are to get shell into the batter.



This of course, is the exception. Little Miss actually cracked the egg and had it break apart and land almost entirely on the counter. For this instance -- and for this instance only -- I used my hand to scrape it off my clean counter (I clean the counter with wipes before and after every cooking and baking endeavor as a matter of course) and dumped it into the bowl.



After we had the dough all mixed up, we had to roll it out. This is generally a job that I do, but the wee ones are becoming more and more adept at using the rolling pin. While I finish things off and make them smooth, they're doing a pretty good job of making it flat.

And for this recipe, we had to roll the dough, use the cookie cutter, roll out more dough, use the cookie cutter, and repeat. It only took one rerolling of the dough before the wee ones were finished with it, and I finished rolling and cutting all 80-some shapes.

And to think I'd originally considered doubling the recipe.



The finished product was proclaimed wonderful to eat by the wee ones, and they even convinced my mom and my sister to try them (they liked the biscuits, as well). Fortunately, we were able to save the majority of the treats for the three dogs currently staying at my parents' house.

And yes, the recipe is completely edible for humans. It's basically a peanut butter and oatmeal cookie. I don't like peanut butter (I know, weird, right?), but everyone who tried to cookies enjoyed them. And the dogs? They gobbled them up!

Well, Ya Can't Argue With That Logic

Tonight, as I put Mister Man to bed, I noticed that his plastic shark that sits above his bed was glowing in the dark. I pointed it out to him, and he quickly grabbed it and started to shove it under his covers.

Whatcha doing, Kiddo?

I need it, Mommy. I need to have it. It's my weapon against monsters.

Ummm, ok. There's only one problem with that, Mister Man.

What's the problem, Mommy?

Welllll, there are no monsters. You know they aren't real.

You don't know that for sure though.

Well, yes, actually I do.

How do you know that for sure, for sure?

Probably because mommies tend to know these sorts of things.

But you don't know this!

I think I do, Sweetie.

But Mom! What if God decides that he needs a little more noise in the world and so he decides that it's time to create some monsters?

Oh. Well, ummm. So if God wanted more noise in the world, creating monsters would be his solution?

Maybe. You never know what God is going to do. So I'm going to keep this shark as my weapon just in case.

He's sort of got a point there. I'm just glad he doesn't have to do the old fashioned catechism, as I can see him giving the poor priests fits with his questions and logic.

Gunning For Mom Of The Year

I'm a good mom. Generally. Most of the time. In fact, I have people say nice things about my parenting skills sometimes.

But I have a secret.

Shhh.

Sometimes, Little Miss asks me to read a book, a certain book. A book that involves Thomas the Tank Engine, and I groan. Now, this isn't an ordinary Thomas book - that cheeky engine who loves to be a helper. No, this is a book that comes from the genre invented by someone who has no children.

This is one of those books that has sounds. Every third word, there is a picture, and a corresponding button that Little Miss is supposed to push that makes a "cute" sound.

*sigh*

Since Little Miss doesn't know how to read (yet!), nor has she memorized where the sounds go, she simply starts pushing them as soon as I turn the page. Then she can't hear what words I read. So she makes me repeat it. Except then she starts pressing the buttons again. And my headache begins.

Sometimes I tell her that Mommy has to work and so can't read to her (even when I've finished working for the day). Sometimes Mommy hides the book for a few days to get a respite. Sometimes I decide that naptime needs to be moved up by a half hour, and unfortunately that means the book can't be read right then. Now that Mister Man reads fluently, sometimes I ask him to read it to her -- and then I go hide elsewhere.

It isn't that I don't enjoy reading to her. We read regularly, and we read all sorts of books (except Barney that I banned from the house). We read together, and we tell stories about what we think the books could be about.

But ohhh those books that make sounds.

The good(?) news is that the batteries are starting to run low. I say this because when batteries in a sound activated toy start going, the sound quality deteriorates (further). That oh-so-adorable noise of Thomas's broken whistler now sounds like fingernails on a chalkboard. The cheerful peep of James is quite mournful. And the thrumming of Harold the Helicopter sounds ... more like paper ripping. And that might be generous.

I keep praying that the batteries will finally conk out. And I keep hiding that book, but somehow it keeps appearing on the bookshelf.

Do you think she'd notice if it was permanently "lost?"

Goal 1? Accomplished!

Soooo I wrote last Saturday about my goals for the new year. One of the big ones was figuring out what I was going to do about work and just doing it instead of letting the inertia of time carry me along and complaining about it.

I finally made my decision yesterday. I had a plan of exactly what I wanted to do and knew why. In fact, I even wrote the resignation letter, prepared to present it to my boss.

After making my decision, I felt such a sense of peace. I could feel the worry sliding away. There's a book I'm reading where a character's partner describes his attitude towards work as, "I just don't care." It serves him well -- he does his job and does a good job at it, but all the icky things around the job that regularly drive us nuts? He just doesn't care anymore. I wish I could get to that point, but the fact is that I do care. I care way too much, which is why work/life balance is such a challenge for me.

But after making my decision? Calm. And I didn't care about the outcome. I knew I had backup, and I was fine with it. I had nothing to lose.

So today when I had my one on one meeting with my boss, I asked for a leave of absence to spend some time with the wee ones.

Surprisingly, my boss completely understood. When I said it would be at least two months, I could see him blanch a little bit, but he was game. I have an approved leave of absence, and I'm thrilled.

To be honest, I was surprised that it was as easy as it was. In fact, I had a trip to the chiropractor this afternoon because the right side of my neck tensed up so much that I currently (this is after the chiro) can't bend my head forward or to the right. I was expecting it to be more painful, and I detest creating scenes.

I'm not starting the leave immediately, and my boss is grateful that I'm staying to finish up a few critical projects. We still need to figure out the details of it - how do benefits work, what paperwork do we need to fill out, when will I be coming back, and the like.

That is actually going to be the biggest challenge.

My company has moved to a new model of HR where it's all online. Have a question? Search the HR FAQs. FAQs don't answer your question? Open up a case and tell them about it... so they can point you to the FAQs you already read.

But me? I don't care. I have my leave. I have my time, and I haven't made a commitment one way or the other.

For the next two to three months, I'll be able to practice being a stay at home mom, knowing that I have my job waiting in the wings if it doesn't work out. If I'm wrong and need the mental stimulation of the job, it's still there. If I discover that we can't survive only on my husband's salary, I can still regain mine. If I find that the wee ones do better when I'm not around, I can go back.

But right now, I'm not focused on that. I'm thinking about the time I can spend with the wee ones and the energy I can focus on Mister Man for the next couple of months.

Pass the bon-bons, would you?