Insanity

Let me preface this by saying that I have ALWAYS wanted to be a stay at home mom. I am VERY thankful to have the opportunity to be home with my beloved son and spend as much time as I can with him while he is young. I now that there are many woman who would love to be in my shoes and think things like "if I stayed home my house would be spotless b/c I would have all the time in the world to clean" I thought this before I started my career as a SAHM. It just isn't the case I have several other SAHM friends and we all complain about the same things. It is not easy juggling all your responsibilities of woman, mother, wife, cook and maid. Inevitably something gets a little less attention than it should. For me it is maid.....

I am going to go ahead and throw this out there...I am NO neat freak. I HATE cleaning. I tell my husband all the time "I am a GREAT stay at home mom. William is taken care of every second of the day. I am a HORRIBLE house wife" :) I hate cleaning, all of it, vacuuming, dishes, laundry, dusting, windows, floors, bathrooms etc. etc. etc. Here is my problem with cleaning. While I hate cleaning I hate having a dirty house just as much. The cleaning is never done and as soon as you get done cleaning something it is dirty again. This frustrates me to no end!!

I wake up in the morning to the dishes that were not done the night before, I put them in the dish washer (which is honestly just a dish sanitizer b/c it cleans NOTHING. If there is even one speck of food on the dish when it goes in it will be there when I take it out.). If it is full of clean dishes then they have to be put away before the dirty dishes can be put in. Now that that is done more dishes accumulate throughout the day. 

SOOO though out the day I am dealing with said dishes. Sometimes I am good and will put the dirty dishes in the dishwasher as soon as we are done with them. But, to be honest most of the time I don't. I have other things to tend to. e.g. cleaning what ever William has decided to spill/pour/throw/drop onto the floor, dirty diapers, sorting the laundry, folding the latest load of laundry that is now dry, making meals, cleaning up the meals, all the while my beloved son in holding onto my leg/skirt/shirt/pants etc screaming for me to hold him, play with him, give him a big hug or kiss his boo boo. He also loves to "help" me with my cleaning which inevitably ends up being more work for me.

Now we are at the end of the day and the clothes that were just cleaned have been cleaned again, and the dishes that were clean this morning have now collected in the sink again and once again I have to clean the table, floor and kitchen so that I can cook dinner so that the table, kitchen, floor and dishes can get dirty again and AGAIN be cleaned!!!!  

The definition of insanity if doing the same thing over and over again expecting a different result. I have decided that this is just madness and it must stop!! 

So, beware if you come to my house this summer...I have decided that we will become raw food eating/barefoot/nudists/who only eat with their hands. This should free up enough time for me to vacuum, dust and clean the bathrooms! :) 

a picture a day post FAIL :)

So far I missed day 5, 7, 9 and 10 ....the picture is what really throws me. I ALWAYS have something I could talk about ;) but I don't always have a picture to go with it! I learned getting pictures from the internet can result in the inability to post my blog to FB it will claim that it is spammy :( Well enough excuses on to my post for today...

Don't you miss being able to pass out where ever you are!! 

Children...and men have this uncanny ability to just pass out were ever they are!! I can be exhausted beyond all means and it will still take me at least 30 mins to unwind and fall asleep. My husband on the other hand will complain that he is not tired at all and then three seconds later he is snoring away. Lately my son has deviate from him normal schedule (maybe he is growing). He will be playing away and all of a sudden get really quite and when I look over he is SOUND ASLEEP right where he is! It usually happens right around lunch time which is really unfortunate b/c he goes to bed hungry and only naps for a short time. If I wake him and try to get him to eat and go back to sleep he NEVER ends up going back to sleep. 

This post has been prompted by my recent struggles with the sand man...he seems to forget me :( I go through this cycle often..first I will have insomnia for a few weeks. Sometimes it gets really bad...like looking at the clock at 3:00 am and still being wide awake or going to bed at 2:00am and waking up at 5:00am unable to get back to sleep. Lucky for me as long as i can get at least 5 hours of sleep I am fully functional and feel fine. Less than 5 and I am CRANKY!! More than 8 and I am sluggish.  The next cycle is when I am tired all the time. I finally start being able to fall asleep at a normal time and all of a sudden I start falling asleep at 8:00pm and waking up at 7:00-8:00am (when ever William wakes up) I can also take a nap while William is napping still fall asleep at 8:00pm and not wake up till William does around 7 or 8am . It is ridiculous, but I guess my body is trying to catch up to all that missing sleep. It is truly the worst cycle b/c I can do well with a little amount of sleep, but too much can cause a head, back, and neck ache along with feeling slugish. Of course the last cycle is the normal sleep schedule where I go to bed and wake up rested at reasonable times. I am currently transitioning out of the insomnia cycle and into the comatose cycle hahaha I am SO tired ALL the time! I fell asleep on the couch the other night at 9:30pm woke up at 8:00 am and desperately needed a nap when William went down for his!! Hopefully this won't last long and I can get back to my normal sleeping schedule 

Here's so a good nights sleep and waking up well rested!!

Just in case you were wondering...

This is what a government shut down will mean for us...
http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/government-shutdown-looms-amid-spending-debate-obama-republicans/story?id=12952627

an interesting day

First I want to say that I have not yet completed a blog a day for a week and I already failed :( I fell asleep on the couch  last night at about 9:30...In my defense I have been suffering from insomnia and obviously REALLY needed the sleep. Okay enough apologies on to the blog for today... 

There is no picture for today b/c every time I try to share my blog with FB it says the picture I chose is spammy...I chose SEVERAL different pictures and they are so NOT spammy...whatever!!

Today was one of those days that is exhausting just because it is completely different from your normal day. We woke up, got ready and took the truck to get serviced at Carmax....(a little back story) Ever since the very first time we put my son in a forward facing carseat...he gets car sick he pukes all over my truck!! I put him in a forward facing carset the day after he turned one ...like I had been told to do by my pediatrician aaaaaand he yacked all over the truck...after that he began getting carsick almost everytime we got in the car, I began begging someone anyone to tell me what I could do to help my poor little man. All the answers were the same "there is nothing that you can do he will grow out of it" I even looked it up online and all it said was to watch what you feed them before you get in the car and to have the seat in the middle, so they can look out of the front window. No one ever told me that there were extended rear-facing carseats!! I wish one person would have said "you can get him a carseat that will allow him to continue to rear face until he weighs 40 pounds..oh and by the way it is safer for him!! 

Okay off that soap box  and back to today :) We were headed out to Bartlett from Olive Branch which takes us on 3 different interstates. We were just about to pull into Carmax when William barfed :( Thank goodness it was early and all he had had for breakfast was some milk. 

I called my Mother-in-law and Carmax letting them both know that I was indeed there, but was going to need some time to clean up a rather nasty mess. Poor William kept saying he was sorry and asking me "what happened? I'm all wet." Then, as I was taking his clothes off he was screaming at me "I'm cold mamma!! stop I need my clothes I'm cold!!" luckily I had some blankets with me since he was going to be napping at my mom's house. I wrapped him all up and after that he was fine :) 

We went from there to the mall to drop my MIL off, then to her house to drop the dog off and THEN to my mom's house to wait for my dentist apt. I needed my teeth cleaned and was having an issue with a tooth he had filled...I couldn't floss in between the two teeth and it was driving me CRAZY! Thank goodness you can't see what the Doc is doing when he is doing it. It felt like he was filing in between my teeth..after it was all said and done he showed me the tool he used and it was a freaking hack saw a tiny teeth sizes hacksaw, but a hacksaw non the less!! he even said "well that worked just needed a little hacksaw and he showed it to me!! GA!! This is why I need happy gas to go to the dentist!!

After the dentist I got the call from Carmax apparently we needed a new tie rod for our suspension and something was wrong with our ERG valve..whatever!! I needed a rental car b/c they would have to wait for the parts to come in...the last time we needed a new part for the truck they had it for THREE WEEKS and kept saying the part has been ordered, the part has been ordered. Well guess what, some worker found the part and it had been sitting on the dock the WHOLE TIME. Soooooo, needless to say I am not trilled we have to wait for a part to be ordered :( oh well, I get to drive a cool gas efficient Ford Focus in the meanwhile :) (It's all about the silver lining people hahaha) I went ahead and drove straight to Enterprise and rented the car and told them I would be back to get it after I picked my MIL up from the mall. I ended up helping my MIL at work for about an hour (which I was HAPPY to do since she was helping me by driving me around and letting me borrow her car plus we work for the same company and am always happy to help my company :) when we got back to Enterprise I was expecting a very quick pick up since I had already done all the paper work and just needed the keys. Not so much, it was PACKED and it took FOREVER to get my car! I'm just SO thankful that my mom was watching William and he wasn't there with me. 

Once I got the car I headed back to my mom's house so that I could dye her hair. I love doing this for her b/c I used to dye my hair ALL the time and my mom was always the one that did it for me. After this I met my hubby at his mom's house for dinner. He cooked shish kabobs on the grill and they were DELICIOUS!!! At last we headed for home and I to my computer to blog so I could go to sleep!!! Good night my friends till tomorrow :) 

Fun times in the bathroom...

My husband asked me last night "what do you have planned for tomorrow?" My response "Nothing! we are going to have a relaxing day at home with nothing to do but play, eat and watch some t.v." I have been so busy lately I feel like I leave the house everyday! I'm ready for the long days of summer and playing outside until the sun goes down!

Well today was no lazy day at all!! It started out great. William crawled into bed with me this morning and we got to snuggle. I will do this with him every morning as LONG as he will let me :) Then I took a shower and we got ready for our day..until the hail, wind and sirens started and then we headed for the VERY small spare bathroom. Me, my son and my dog (The cat would claw me to death if I tired to get her, so she has to fend for her self!) The dog and the child were NOT happy with this situation and did NOT understand why we were in the bathroom. Luckily we didn't have to stay in there for very long (and were not directly effected by the storms). However, we were in and out three times. The sirens would go off, then back on, then off, then back on it was very frustrating and this is why I usually don't pay any attention to them to be quite honest. The high speed wind and hail is what got me moving!!
I was very lucky to not lose power that would have been a nightmare, in the pitch black bathroom! I don't think we would have survived! I need to get a flash light to store in there just in case now that I think about it....
Well this one hour ordeal threw our day for a loop. It was only about 11:30 and William was exhausted from all the excitement and he took his 2:00 nap at about 12:30 lucky for me he slept till about 3:45!! I too was exhausted form the events of the morning and after doing some laundry, crashed on the couch. I woke up when William got up and my husband was home shortly after that, so dinner needed to be cooked. I had my group meeting at 6:00 was home in time to put William to bed...only to remember that I was washing his sheets before the tornadoes and had forgotten to put the load into the dryer. I HATE when this happens!!! So my son is sleeping on sheets with no crib cover, and the blanket from the couch :) He thinks it's pretty cool so we'll go with it.
As soon as he went to bed I hopped on the computer to complete my blog for the day and I will be headed to bed myself. I have unfortunately been suffering from insomnia lately (last night I fell asleep about 1:30 and woke up at 5:00am :( Hence the reason my daily blogs have been done around 12:00-1:00am. BUT NOT TONIGHT :) it is only 9:40 and I really hope to be asleep before midnight tonight..wish me luck.
Sorry for the grammar, punctuation and spelling errors...the lack of sleep is really getting to me!
I pray for all the families that were effected by the storms today may you find peace and comfort tonight especially the Bennett family...Amen

Food for thought

In an effort to save some money each month I started shopping according to the meals I planned on making for the next two weeks. I start by sitting down and writing out what I plan on cooking and which nights, planning for all the things that may come up or have been planned for the next two weeks. I do NOT cook every night, typically I cook one night, have left overs and a do it yourself night, etc. etc. etc. I have tried to do this in the past but never really stuck to it or would inevitably change my mind about what I wanted to cook.  I would make a list, go to the store and buy everything on the list along with a ton of stuff that I just thought I might need if I decided to maybe cook this or that...THEN several times during the week I would figure out that I was missing an ingredient for the meal I had decided to cook and I would run to the store send Matt to the store and pick up what we needed plus a few extras...It was getting OUT OF CONTROL! We were spending waaaay too much money on groceries!!

So I told Matt that I would only shop when he got paid, I would plan according to meals and when something ran out then it would have to wait till the next pay check (except milk my baby boys has GOT to have his milk!) 

I sat down the first pay period and began writing out the meals I would cook for the next two weeks and quickly figured out ....I only had a few staple meals that I new how to cook! It was SO hard to plan for two weeks I could't come up with enough meals!! This was ridiculous!! I hopped on the computer and began searching for new recipes...I have found SEVERAl new recipes that I LOVE and have become staples in my house. Now I have to warn you the only red meat we eat is steak and we have that once every few months :) So all my recipes are chicken, turkey (I only use ground turkey and turkey sausage) and seafood. 

**I know this is supposed to a A picture a day but this blog has several :) 

OLIVE GARDEN® ZUPPA TOSCANA

http://www.tuscanrecipes.com/recipes/olive-garden-zuppa-toscana.html

Olive Garden Chicken and Gnocchi Soup

http://www.copykat.com/2010/02/28/olive-garden-chicken-and-gnocchi-soup/

EASY CHICKEN SOUP

http://www.cooks.com/rec/doc/0,1639,148187-253202,00.html

soup was my first adventure into new recipes. A friend of mine was kind enough to share her recipe for Olive Garden's soups. I LOVE soup for two reason 1. they are a one pot meal...less dishes = happy mama 2. you can freeze some of it for a later meal ...p.s. Cut the red pepper flakes to 1/2 tsp in the Toscana soup, cut flour to 2 TBS and add exrtra can of broth in the Gnocchi soup and add a can of cream of chicken soup to the chicken soup recipe :) 

Lent is what inspired me to look for an easy crab cake recipe. I LOVE all kids of seafood so I wanted to take the opportunity alloted during Lent to move me to find a few sea food recipes. This is SUPER easy and since I use canned crab meat (found by the canned tuna) it is pretty inexpensive. I changed the recipe a little from what you see in the video. No ginger, cilantro or Jalapeños..I use green onion, red pepper and garlic...I also use crushed butter crackers opposed to bread crumbs. I baked the cakes at 350 for 15 mins on each side. Once I have flipped them I put the asparagus in the oven with the crab cakes with just a little olive oil and seasoning.  

 Crunchy onion crusted salmon, spinach salad and sweet potato( we eat a lot of sweet potatoes :) 

I saw this recipe on Parents.com I would add the link but you have to be a member to access the recipe. It is so super easy and yummy that I cooked it two nights in a row! 

honey mustard

French's fried onions

salmon steak

spinach

sweet potato

Baste the salmon in honey mustard and add some salt. Crush the onions in a bag and pour on top of the salmon. Bake in oven at 350 for 12-14 mins. microwave the potato add spinach salad to plate...that's it! 

I use frozen individually wrapped salmon steaks from Sam's. I can pull out as many as I need and they defrost super fast. If you don't like fish substitute fish for chicken and change the cook time accordingly. 

Broccoli and cheese stuffed chicken with creamy rice**another Parents.com recipe**

This recipe is super easy and yummy. I like meals that have everything in one, protein, veggie and bread.

Ingredients

• 4    boneless, skinless chicken breast halves (2-1/4 pounds)
• 4  ounces (1/2 package)  1/3-less-fat cream cheese
• 1  package  frozen chopped broccoli, thawed
• 1/2  cup  shredded cheddar
• 2  tablespoons  seasoned bread crumbs
• 1/2  teaspoon  each salt and pepper
•   Egg noodles (optional)

Directions

1. Heat oven to 350°. Remove tenders from chicken; reserve for another use. Cut a pocket into breasts, cutting into but not through. Soften cream cheese slightly.

2. In a large bowl, combine broccoli, both cheeses, bread crumbs and 1/4 teaspoon each of the salt and pepper. Stuff a scant 1/3 cup into each chicken breast. Secure with toothpicks.

3. Season chicken with remaining 1/4 teaspoon each salt and pepper. Brown chicken over medium-high heat in two batches in a nonstick skillet for 3 minutes. Transfer chicken to a baking dish. Bake at 350° for 30 minutes, until cooked through. Serve with egg noodles alongside, if desired. 

Last but not least..Quiche! A member of my mommy group at church brought a quiche for us one morning. I can't remember the last time I had a quiche, but I was reminded how much I love them! This spurred me to seek out a spinach quiche recipe. I got this one from my mom :) It is super easy and very yummy! I am completely addicted and have already made this twice in the past two weeks 

1 frozen deep dish pie

3eggs

1 pkg spinach

1 pkg cheddar cheese

2 TBS flour

1 cup milk

1 lb turkey sausage

red pepper flake, and salt to taste

Mix the flour and cheese, beat the egg, defrost the spinach and squeeze the water out, cook the sausage, mix all ingredients together, pour in dish and  bake 350 for 45-60 mins

I have many more recipes that I have tried or plan to try soon, but these are the ones I have pictures of :)  I have really become addicted to looking for new recipes to try with ingredients I have not used yet. When Matt see's me on the computer and asks what I am doing I tell him "Research for my job" hehehe :) I LOVE cooking again and instead of seeing it as a pain in my neck I do it with great joy...the dished are another story : / (I am blessed to have a hubby who will usually step in on my behalf :) 

**If you have a favorite recipe that is easy and has few ingredient please share with me! 

It's a great day to be alive :)

I said a blog a day and I have 36 minutes to get this blog in today :)

There is never a dull moment in the Hatley house :) 

This is how my son plays with a soccer ball net...is there any other way? hahaha I love how we spend thousands of dollars to make sure that our kids have the best clothes, the latest movies and more toys then they could ever play with and all they want is to play with is empty boxes, kitchen utensils, dog toys, watch the same episode of Thomas/Veggie Tales (Larry Boy is getting REALLY old!) over and over and OVER again and run around naked!! I think the system is seriously flawed!!

Even knowing all of this I am still lying in bed right now and making a list of all the things I want to get  William for his third birthday..things he HAS to have  does not really need.  Matt and I have found ourselves in a very bad habit. Every time we go to the store William ends up getting a toy. Usually it is VERY cheap (dinosaurs form the $1 bin ROCK) but every now and then he gets something bigger. It actually makes it a lot easier to get things we need or want him to have. Instead of waiting for a birthday or holiday and spending a ton of money at once we spend a few dollars here and there. 

Well Matt ran to the store the other night because I needed something for the recipe I was cooking. He picked me up one of  those pasta strainers as a surprise gift. When he got home he announced "Mama has a surprise!" William was so excited about MY surprise...until he figured out that HE did not get a surprise. He threw a huge temper tantrum! Screaming "I want a surprise!! Where is MY surprise" after a little explaining he started to calm down, but the truth was out there....Our child is becoming a SPOILED BRAT!! We only have ourselves to blame! We decided that we needed to curb the buying a little. Now that it is getting warmer we are focusing less on t.v and toys and more on playing outside, creating crafts and going on outings to the library, park, zoo, children's museum and big back yard. We are starting to shake off the stuffy, cooped up, stir crazyness of winter and embracing the fresh air of the great outdoors. 

Stolen Idea/the great paci debate

I stole this idea from a friend who stole it from another friend ...Thanks Sara and Sara's friend :)
I started this blog not too long ago and just haven't been able to get it really started. I keep thinking "I don't have anything to blog about". "I will blog when something great happens, then I'll have something to write about". Well  I have decided that if I wait for something big or great to happen I may never blog again hahaha. Seriously I need to recognize the great things that happen in my life everyday. SO I am going to do a picture a day blog for the month of April. Each day there will be a new picture and a new blog...I can't promise anything fantastically hilarious will happen, or that some major event in my life will be blogged about...This is just an everyday account of ordinary things that happen in my daily life. Things that I am extraordinarily blessed to be a part of each day.  I also have the added problem of being long winded, scatter brained and random :) Through this I will have ONE thing to focus on.

Without further ado here is my picture for today

I think we have a serious paci addiction problem!!

I know my son is getting closer and closer to three years old (which makes me want to burst into tears) and more and more people feel the need to make comments like "give me that paci, your not a baby" or "your too big for that paci' or  (being down right rude) "It's about time you got rid of that don't you think"? YES YES people I KNOW he's too big for a paci, but he is so darn addicted to that thing I am NOT looking forward to taking it away. He's not old enough to understand why I am taking it away he would think I was just being mean. Every time we talk about being a big boy he responds with I'm not a big boy I'm Little!!" Plus I am NOT int he habit of punishing MYSELF! hahaha 

I keep setting different times for taking the paci away, but something always come up. I SWORE I would take it away only let him have it at night when he transitioned into a big boy bed. Well he's been in a big boy bed since Dec 26th and he still has that paci ALL DAY. I have tried to make it a sleep time only thing but when I take one away he finds one somewhere in the house I swear it's like magic!! (It makes me wonder if that is why I can only find two of the ten pacis we own...he's hording them somewhere!!) When I try to limit the time he has with his paci I can always come up with a reason why he needs it. I would say he could have it a night,or  in the car, or if we were out somewhere, and of course I give it to him when he is screaming over and over I want my paci, pcai mamma I need my paci!!!  really upset it calms him down....okay the list keeps getting longer and leaves NO TIME WITHOUT THE PACI hahaha 

I know I need to bite the bullet and take it away, but it is sooo hard and now to make it worse he has decided he is afraid of the shadows in his room and is not sleeping very well at all. I feel we need to get through this before I take the only thing that helps him self soothe away. However, once this has passed I'm sure there will be another reason not to do it and another and another. At this point I'm not sure who is more addicted to the paci, William...or me!!