Category Archives: mom fail

Dinner Disappointment: Crock Pot Mongolian Beef

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For the last four weeks I’ve had the same dish on my meal plan…each week something has come up and I haven’t been able to make it. I came across the recipe on Pinterest nearly 2 months ago when I was searching for a steak recipe. I pinned it knowing for sure it’d be a hit for the family. Today was the day. I made sure I had meat out of the freezer and by 1:30 I had everything in the crock pot ready to go. That should have been my first clue…the crock pot.

I got everyone’s plates ready to go. Andy sat down and started to feed Reese. I came over to the table just as he was taking a little taster of the meat. He kind of made a funny face. That was my second clue. I asked if it was ok…he said he thought so.

As we all settled in at the table and started to eat it became very apparent that this was definitely not a hit. It was…gross to say the least. All we could taste was salt. I covered my plate in ground pepper and was able to eat it as long as I didn’t stop. Andy couldn’t even finish half of it.

After dinner was all cleaned up, I reviewed the recipe to see where I went wrong. I followed it to a “T”…needless to say I won’t be trying that one again.

So, here’s my public service announcement/good deed for the day: do not…I repeat do not try this crock pot Mongolian beef recipe.

Ya welcome.

New School Year Transitions

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I know what you’re thinking…ugh, here she goes again…complaining about back to school.

And I’d like to tell you you’re wrong. But you’re not. You’re 100% right.

I don’t know what it is about this year, but I swear this is the worst year yet for the back to school transition. I’m having a tough time with it. Not in the “oh my baby is just starting kindergarten, she’s getting so big, where does time go, I think I’ll cry” kind of way. But more of the “holy crap how is it already 6 PM and we are just getting home and Reese only wants to be held and holy crap she’s tired and how am I going to make dinner like this and what time is Andy going to be home” kind of way.

I end every night completely exhausted and I wake up the next morning the same way.

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Now we’re talking about signing Rylee up for soccer. Can I tell you a secret? I have purposefully avoided any kind of organized group activity thus far. No gymnastics. No dance. Nothing. Hardly even an official play date with friends. Not because I don’t want my girls to join organized activities, but because with all that we juggle as full-time-plus working parents and property owners, I couldn’t imagine willingly adding one.more.thing. into the mix.

But here we are.

When the flyer about soccer sign-ups was sent home with Rylee last week, I asked her about it. She said she didn’t want to play. I silently cheered and let out a sigh of relief.

But is that really it? No. It’s not.  At this point am I doing her a disservice by just accepting her meh “no” and moving on? All because I selfishly don’t want to have to figure out how soccer practices during the week and weekend games will fit into our already hectic lives? How is she going to know whether or not soccer is her thing if she never even tries it.

{Personally, I don’t think soccer will be her thing. She’s very athletic, and quite quick actually, but not particularly aggressive. I think volleyball or softball or even track will be more her style, but I suppose only time will tell.}

So I’ve made a couple of phone calls. First we’re going to see if her after school care  place is going to put together a team. They did it last year and the kids practice in the after-school hours instead of later in the evening. Of course we’d still have to fit in weekend games, but that’s much more doable. If that doesn’t work out, we’ll likely sign her up for soccer at her elementary school. That will mean evening practices and quite a little more schedule juggling.

Am I ready for all of this? No. Not in the least bit. But if it’s what’s best for Rylee and what she wants, then I guess we’ll make it work.

Looking ahead to our future? I can’t imagine what it’s going to be like once both girls are in school.

I swear I’ve heard from somewhere that it gets easier. So…when exactly is that?

 

World’s Okayest Mom…it’s my new thing.

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I’ve got all sorts of post ideas swirling around my foggy brain. And two sitting in my drafts even. But, well, life is busy. I missed work yesterday because Rylee was sick so my already crazy-busy week at work has just become exponentially crazy-busy.

Deadlines are getting overlooked. Balls are getting dropped. I’m over on Liberating Working Moms sharing my newest motto…WorldsOkayestMom

So I realize that my last post here in LWM was a little eeyore, emo, womp-wompish. I don’t get like that very often but when work is busy, home life is busier than normal and our “routine” changes yet again, I get kind of overwhelmed. But nobody likes an overwhelmed employee-wife-mom-etc. so in the words of Barney Stinson…

“When I get sad, I stop being sad, and be awesome instead.”

Look, I may not always have my -ish together, but I don’t do half bad.

So yea…this post is ironically so spot on today. Read More!

Follow Your Instincts and/or Learn From Your Mistakes

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Kindergarten Parent Information Night:
Thursday May 16, 6 – 7 PM
Childcare will be provided

As soon as I read that on the flyer we picked up at the Kinder Round-up pre-registration day I played out the night in my head…

Pick up the girls about 5:30 PM from daycare. There won’t be enough time to go home before that so we’ll head straight to the elementary school, but we’ll end up being there 20-25 minutes early. That means Reese will miss her typical car nap she squeezes in between 5:40 & 6:15 every night. And since we’ll be at this meeting during Reese’s dinner time at 6:30, I guess I can feed her her babyfood in the back of the Jeep while we’re waiting in the parking lot. Then we’ll rush home and get her ready for bed. I know the “provided child care” will be for the incoming kinders only and not for my busy-body almost 10 month old.

“Maybe we should just get a babysitter.” I say.

“No, I’m sure it will be fine.” Andy says.

So there we are…sitting {actually standing} at this parent info night.

The pre-meeting rush went exactly as I had anticipated. Reese didn’t fall asleep on the 5 minute drive from the girls’ day care to the elementary school. We got there 25 minutes early. I fed Reese her dinner while she was still strapped into her car seat. Only flinging baby food throughout the back of the Jeep twice. Andy called to say he’d been stuck in traffic and to just go in without him as he may be a few minutes late.

I sign in. Take Rylee to the gym and after some unexpected tears from her, she’s off to play. As I’m coming back into the meeting area with Reese, Andy is walking in. The meeting is about to start.

Reese starts humming happily through her binkie. It’s cute. Some parents look over and smile. She’s the only baby there.

I pull out some puffs and start feeding them to her one-by-one, trying to keep her occupied, but quiet.

The meeting has started. They’ve introduced the teachers and are starting to go over the “kindergarten readiness” list.

Wait…what did they say their names were? I missed that.

Reese decides she over her puffs and is crawling all over me. I walk further back. Shushing her as I walk. But the further back I walk, I can no longer hear what the teachers are saying.

I peek into the gym.

Rylee is with a bunch of other incoming kinders, a few she knows from pre school. They’re coloring, playing duck-duck-goose and just generally having a good time.

I bounce-walk back to where Andy is. Reese starts humming again.

It’s no longer cute. It’s just distracting.

Between walking back & forth and trying to keep Reese quiet, I can’t hear anything they’re saying.

I finally concede. I walk over to Andy. Grab my stuff, tell him I’m taking Reese home, and try to sneak out the side while Reese continues to loudly hum along.

As I drive home, by blood pressure rises. I’m missing this meeting.

I look back and Reese is passed out.

We should’ve got a baby sitter…

Next time, we’re getting a baby sitter.

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The perfect metaphor for my life

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Mother’s Day is right around the corner…such a great time to reflect on mothering and motherhood and junk…

Well, Rylee finally figured out the theme she wanted for her birthday party this year. Angry Birds won out over Dora, but I don’t think by much. In order to keep the momentum going toward AB, I started planning right away and made sure to keep her involved as much as possible. And so, 4-ish weeks before the date of the party we worked on the invitations. I downloaded a free AB invite from here and when filling in the info, I let Rylee choose the colors. We printed them out the next day, I let her do some of the cutting and she glued the invites onto colored backing.

That same night, I went into our “office” to look for the extra 5×7 envelopes I keep on hand for occasions just like this only could not find them anywhere. I figured, no big deal, I’d go to the store and pick some up on my lunch break or something.

Then a week came and went and those invites continued to sit.

Then with less than 2 weeks until party time, I hit a stroke of laziness genius. I snapped a photo of the invite on my phone and texted it to our friends with the following message:

“Soooo…do me a favor and pretend that you got this in the mail and that I’m not just too lazy to go buy envelopes. Deal? I hope everyone can make it!

P.S. this is a group text because I’m also too lazy to send this individually.“

Not exactly what I had planned, but it got the job done.

Then a couple of days after that, I was looking through my crafting stuff trying to think of creative ways to make this life size Angry Birds game I’ve promised Rylee. While I was thinking about whether or not just wrapping up different size boxes in birthday wrapping paper would come across as lazy or festive I found the 5×7 envelopes I knew I had…

Sitting in a pile of crap on our desk…

half-addressed for family and friends…

not yet stamped…

sealed up with Reese’s 6-week/newborn photos.

Six.Week.Photos. She’s NINE MONTHS OLD!

So…my reflection for Mother’s Day…mothering? Yep. I do it. Kinda.

I saw a photo floating around Facebook last weekend and I think I’ve found my new motto…

World’s okayest mom!

Happy almost Mother’s Day!

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