Saturday, May 14, 2011

Mother's Day Cookbook 2011

Here are the recipes from the cookbook created by Makenna’s classmates for their moms:

Potatoes - (Ingredients: Potatoes, Rice, Spoon)

Instructions - Mash potatoes in the sun and let them dry. Make them hot by putting them in the microwave for 30 seconds. Eat them with rice and a spoon.

My Comments: In my opinion, putting them in the sun to dry would mean that you only have potatoes in Binghamton about three times a year. Also, does that mean I have to stop using my fingers to eat mashed potatoes or is it optional?
~~~~~~~~~~~
Spaghetti and Meatballs - (Ingredients: Sugar, Sauce, Salt, Vinegar, Long Noodles, Water)

Instructions: Mix sugar, sauce, salt, and vinegar all together. Put meatballs in a pot on the stove for 15 hours and 10 minutes. Put long noodles in a pot with water for 2 hours and 1 minute. You can buy everything at Wegman’s.

My Comments: Even though I'm a bit skeptical about the vinegar, I really am impressed with the exactness of time to cook the sauce and spaghetti.
~~~~~~~~~~
Chicken - (Ingredients: Chicken, Secret Spice)

Instructions: Cut the chicken into 2 pieces. Put it in the refrigerator for 2 minutes. Cook it in the oven for 8 minutes at 1 million degrees. Don't know the spice, but it is spicy on my tongue except for dad. Serves Grandpa, Dad, Brother, Me.

My Comments: Wondering what the 2 minutes in the 'fridge does to help but willing to try, it's only 2 minutes. Wondering where I can get a stove that goes as high as a million degrees as I could cook things so much quicker. Also, knowing that the parents for this child are Asian, I can only think of "Ancient Chinese Secret" when it comes to doing laundry (for those of you old enough to remember that commercial,) and wondering if
It’s the same stuff they use for their chicken, as it's only two pieces of chicken feeding at least 4.
~~~~~~~~~~~
Ketchup and Noodles - (Ingredients: 12 boxes of Elbow Noodles, Butter, Ketchup, Cheese)

Instructions: Buy 12 boxes of Elbow noodles from Wegman’s. Put them in a pot and mix with hot water and butter for 10 minutes at 150 degrees. Pour them into a bowl with holes in it. Add Cheese.

My Comments: I'm impressed that it only takes 10 minutes at 150 degrees to cook 12 boxes whereas the other kid needed an oven with a million degrees. Also, I'm guessing that the ketchup is a personal preference as it's not in the instructions and frankly, I'm glad as I don't know if I'd make this recipe if I had to actually use the ketchup on the noodles.
~~~~~~~~~~
Beef Soup - (Ingredients: Chicken, Water, Carrots, Beef Soup)

Instructions: Put the beef soup in the pot. Take the chicken from the fridge and put in microwave for 4 minutes. Put in pot and add water. Cook for the length of a movie. Add round carrots.

My Comments: Interested in why it's called Beef Soup when chicken is added? Like how this child's cooking time is based on the length of a movie, but also feel that depending on the movie, say for instance, "Gone With The Wind, it may be overdone.
~~~~~~~~~~
Grilled Cheese - (Ingredients: Cheddar Cheese, Brown Bread)

Instructions: Put cheddar cheese inside bread, put on stove for one second, keep crust on, no cutting.

My Comments: Like how this child knows what kind of cheese and what kind of bread, but I find it a bit of a waste of time to put it on the stove for one second, but that's me. Also, I'm glad I was told about the crust and cutting as I always wonder about that. Now I know.
~~~~~~~~~~
Bacon - (Ingredients: Bacon)

Instructions: Buy bacon from Wal-Mart. Put 5 pieces on a paper towel. Put in the microwave for 3 hours.

My Comments: Now this is why I don't buy bacon. One, I typically don't buy my food at Wal-Mart (but part of that is just because it's too far away,) and also, who's got the time to wait 3 hours for bacon?
~~~~~~~~~~
Macaroni & Cheese with Balls - (Ingredients: Macaroni, Orange Cheese, Little Balls, Water)

Instructions: Mom goes to Wegman’s while I go to kidsplace and play. She buys macaroni and cheese with the little balls. Bring it home, pour water in it and put in microwave for 15 seconds. Add orange cheese then blow on it because it is hot!

My Comments: Well, besides the fact that I know she meant "little bowl" not "little balls" - I guess I need to explain that putting it in the microwave for 15 seconds will give her hard wet noodles. But for the rest of the instructions...she's right on the money...even down to the cheese. What the heck do you call that cheese besides "orange?"
~~~~~~~~~~
Pizza - (Ingredients: Onion, Tomatoes, Beef, Pepperoni)

Instructions: Buy round pizza at a bakery store and bring it home. Put in downstairs freezer. Take out and put in microwave for 10 hours on high power. Ingredients are already on it. Have Dad cut into pieces.

My Comments: Now, I'm really confused...why put it in the freezer to just take it back out? Where are these kids getting these appliances? A microwave put on high power for 10 hours to cook a pizza? Maybe she also needs the million-degree oven. Like how she also got dad involved in the cooking process.
~~~~~~~~~~
French Fries and Ketchup - (Ingredients: Potatoes, Tomatoes)

Instructions: Get potatoes from store or garden and take the skins off. Throw the skins away. Cut potatoes into 7 pieces. Place on tray. Put in oven for 10 minutes on 0 degrees. Smoosh tomatoes to make ketchup, serve cold.

My Comments: Wow, first, love how the ingredients rhyme. Next, now I finally know what to do with the mountain of skins I have in the pantry. Yet again, another appliance issue, but I'm glad that we serve it cold as it was in the oven for 10 minutes at 0 degrees. Or is it the homemade ketchup that's served cold? Oh crap, now I'm confused.
~~~~~~~~~~
Thai Food - (Ingredients: Thai Food)
Instructions: Pick it up from the restaurant.

My Comments: My favorite recipe by far! I think I can do this one!
~~~~~~~~~~

I absolutely loved this idea from her teachers. I will hopefully always be able to treasure and keep this and refer to it to be a better cook.

Thursday, May 12, 2011

Mother's Day

Mother's Day this year was fantabulous! Why you ask? I had a day to myself. Most moms may say that they enjoyed spending time with their family and doing things with their kids. For the most part, I do enjoy days like that, but I seem to have many days of Makenna and myself going and doing things. This was a day where she could spend time with daddy and I could have time to myself to do....NOTHING! Well, as much of nothing as I could stand. I still did dishes, laundry, take care of the dogs, and make homemade granola. Plus go to dinner alone with my mom, and get some shopping done.

Mother's Day for me started on Friday (5/6) when I dropped off Makenna at school and got this cute little bag that was colored by Makenna and in it was a "cookbook" made by the kids, and a pot-holder that she had colored. Plus a cute little baby food jar that was cutely decorated and had flowers in it. I loved the jar and the cookbook. I'll have to make another post about the cookbook alone as it was absolutely hilarious. It was kids telling the recipes of how their mom's cook their favorite foods.

Then later in the day I came back to school for her afternoon UPK class and we got massages by the kids...which for me was dangerous because when I give Makenna massages I lightly rub her back under her shirt...so she tried to do the same. Needless to say, I didn't want my shirt pulled up. We also made bracelets and decorated jewelry boxes. Then we had a story and a dessert. I left during the movie time as I needed to get her registered for Summer camp and pick up a few things at the store. She was upset I left and I felt bad but I really needed to do these things without worrying about her disappearing.

On Saturday, Chris had to take his parents down to NJ to go on a cruise ship that he had arranged for them for their 50th wedding anniversary. I said to him, "You know what would be a great mother's day gift?...If you took Makenna with you!" He didn't think it was such a great idea at first as he was concerned about the bathroom situation. I told him that she could pretty much go on her own, and prefers to, but that hopefully he could find single bathrooms. In the end he decided to take her and I had the day to myself. Besides all the other things I listed, I watched a lot of TV without having to fight to watch what I wanted. We have a DVR that's pretty much 100% full as I only get a chance at night to watch things off of it and most nights I'm trying to watch other things that are actually on at that time. So even though I got it down to 80% full, as of last night it was almost back up to 100%. Hopefully summer will have a lot of re-runs and I can catch up on some of these shows!

Plus, I thought it was a good idea for Chris and Makenna to spend time together. I hope that they'll always have a close relationship and it means a lot to me to watch her do things with her daddy. I didn't really have an opportunity growing up to do a lot of things with my dad and I want Makenna to have that with her dad.

Chris thought that he might take her over to the Statue of Liberty, and that kind of made me pause for a moment about going too, but then I really wanted a day to myself more. Also, the dogs just got spayed/neutered last week so they couldn't really be alone for very long.

He decided to just go to some Science Center that was nearby but obviously they still got to "see" the statue from a distance as you can see by the pictures:



Then on Sunday, Mother's Day, Chris took Makenna outside to mow with him. She loves sitting on his lap with her ear mufflers (I can't think of the word I want...things to cover her ears to protect them from noise), and go around on the lawn tractor to mow. This gave me more time inside to myself to watch more shows and relax. They then got into a squirt gun fight and she loved being soaked. When I came out to gripe how it was a bit on the chilly side to be getting her head wet, Chris proceeded to squirt me. Of course Makenna found this hilarious. She keeps asking to play "squirters" now.

Then of course it ended with a dinner cooked by Chris. Steak (grilled,) potatoes (microwaved) and corn (Microwaved). So nothing extravagant but nonetheless tasty!

Now the real mothering comes in this next coming week when he goes away for a week on a guy's fishing trip. Probably another reason he agreed to take Makenna this past Saturday. He knew he was going on a man-cation for a week and all I got was a day. I'll still take it! Now I get another vacation while he's gone...I get the bed all to myself again!

Thursday, May 5, 2011

Missing Part II

Well, I guess my little talks about Makenna walking off have not sunk in quite yet. Yesterday while we were at her school I was walking around talking to different people about the Summer programs and what we need to get together paper-work wise and making sure that we have some kind of care for her after she “graduates” from the ECC and before their Summer care picks up.

She was with me, or I at least knew her whereabouts until the end. By my third stop to talk to someone, I knew she was behind me, but when I turned around to leave, she was nowhere in sight. I blame myself to some extent as I knew she had walked off but I continued my conversation thinking she had just gone up to the cafeteria to talk to one of her old teachers. I think I felt comfortable knowing where she was at, or where I perceived she was at, and she feels comfortable at the school to walk around too.

When my conversation was over, I was looking for her…and then looking…then looking some more…then panicking. I went everywhere I could think of that she would go and this is a pretty big building. I even looked in rooms and areas that I didn’t think she would normally be able to get to without an adult as they have a security system throughout the building and the only way you can get through certain doors is with a code.

After ten minutes or so, and with help from staff at the school she was found. She was actually in one of the rooms I peeked my head into but since it was dark I assumed she wasn’t in there. She had gone in to use the bathroom, which is what I had figured but I checked bathrooms that I assumed she would go to.

When they brought her out to me she broke down into tears. I felt like crying with her. We sat down and I told her I wasn’t mad and kept asking her why she was crying. I was trying to see if she was scared that I was mad at her or if she was scared because I wasn’t around. She eventually said she thought it was because I was scared. But then later she said she was also scared.

I talked to her a few times throughout the night about how she is to tell me if she needs to go to the bathroom or wants to go to some other area then where I’m at. We talked about strangers and how she doesn’t go anywhere with strangers but that they could also take her against her will. I guess she eventually got tired of the talk as she told me I was frustrating her. Imagine that!

I can only hope that this time the lesson sticks!

All Tucked In

I blame my husband for this.

Makenna was born one ounce shy of 10 pounds (I don't blame him for this necessarily). We found that if we swaddled her that she slept much better as her hands didn’t tend to wake her as she stirred in her sleep, thus we got more sleep. As she was so big, those little swaddling blankets didn’t cut it for very long and we used two to get the job done. I wish I had a picture (and maybe if I dig hard enough I could find one,) of her all rolled up tight like a little sausage. The job was usually done by Chris as he could get it real tight and secure.

On to today…she still likes to be swaddled. Obviously we don’t encase her to where she can’t freely move but she wants to be tucked into bed real tight. Her blankets are tucked in all around her so that only her head is showing and it has to be tight on to her body. If one corner is allowing a hand or foot to peak out, it’s not acceptable. This is where I blame Chris because he started this tight swaddling, and now it continues.

I fear a fire and she ends up trapped under her cocoon, so I tend to be a bit more lax in my tucking. The problem is that it’s routine for her to get up in the middle of the night and tell us her covers are untucked. Whether it’s from a middle of the night bathroom trip or that she just woke up and realized that she’s no longer secure, she comes down and complains that her blankets are “stuck.” Which basically means, come up and tuck me back in tight. Chris usually tells me that I just have to tuck her in real tight so that this issue doesn’t happen. But then what if she’s tucked in so tight that she can’t even get out to go to the bathroom?

I usually hit Chris and tell him to take care of it. But I was feeling generous last night and got up and mumbled the whole way upstairs that she has to start taking care of this issue herself. She whined “no.” I told her to lie in bed and pull the covers up over herself. She again complained but did it when I threatened to just go downstairs and leave her lying there uncovered. I then hastily tucked her in much to her complaint and told her to “deal” with it and she’d be fine and I was going downstairs back to bed.

I feel like I have to find some therapy for her to realize that she doesn’t have to be strapped down to her bed by blankets or at least slowly wean her of this so that she can just get up in the middle of the night and go back to bed on her own without having the blanket police come up and get her secured. Unfortunately, If she does finally get to this point, I’ll probably still get out of bed and check on her as I usually hear her get up to go to the bathroom and until I hear the toilet flush I don’t feel “safe” myself. Then I patiently wait for her to come down and wake us up. So the day that it doesn’t happen, I’ll probably wonder if she got lost somewhere in between. I remember a couple of times where she’s come in to our room before and would just lay down on the floor and I fear one of us stepping on her.

I also feel I’m totally justified in blaming Chris for this, even though I may perpetuate it for the sake of sleep.

This picture is of this past Sunday. Chris’s dad officially retired from preaching and we went to his church to hear his last sermon and for a get together after.