Wordless Wednesday ~ 33/52

My view from the parking garage at work. What a great way to start the day. Boise Balloonfest has begun.

Be sure to check out Wordless Wednesday Link-Ups at these other sites also:

Angry Julie Monday, Project Alicia, Better in Bulk, By Word of Mouth Musings, Dear Crissy, Five Minutes For Mom,Joy of Desserts, Live and Love…Out Loud,Parenting By Dummies, Seven Clown Circus, Supermom, The Divine Miss Mommy

Tasty Tuesday ~ Chicken Salsa Verde

This is one of my go-to recipes. (It is my version of a Rachael Ray recipe a co-worker gave me a while back) I make sure I always have the ingredients on hand because it is quick and easy and the kids will eat it. Actually, everyone in my house loves it. Hubby and the kiddos managed to eat half of it before I could get a picture.

Ingredients*

• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 2 pounds skinless, boneless chicken breasts
• Two 16-ounce jars salsa verde
• One 15-ounce can black beans, rinsed and drained
• 1 onion, finely chopped
• 1 cup sour cream
• 3-4 cups crushed tortilla chips
• One 8-ounce bag shredded Mexican-style cheese

* This recipe is easily alterable to suit your tastes or current pantry - I sometimes will throw in some corn or use kidney beans if I am out of black beans. And most of the time, I use leftover roasted chicken or I will have Hubby grill a few extra chicken breasts on the weekend. But you could easily grab a rotisserie chicken from the deli or even shred leftover pork roast.

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350°. 
2. In a large skillet, heat the oil over medium heat. Add the chicken and cook, turning once, until cooked through, 10 to 12 minutes. 
3. Let stand until cool, then shred the meat into a large bowl. 
4. Stir in the salsa black beans, onion and sour cream.
5. Grease a 9-by-13-inch baking dish.Scatter 1 cup tortilla chips on the bottom and top with half of the chicken mixture and half of the cheese. 
6. Repeat the layers and cover with the remaining 1 cup tortilla chips. 
7. Bake until the cheese is bubbly, about 30 minutes.
8. Serve with cilantro, sliced tomatoes, avocado, salsa or other garnish of your choice.

As a working mom, it is really important for me to have some quick, easy and tasty recipes to fall back on when we are running late or when Hubby is not home to cook. And recipes like this usually give me 2 nights of dinner or dinner and leftovers for lunch!

I hope you will give this a try and come back and let me know what you did to make it your own and what you thought of it!

Bon Appetite & Enjoy!

I am also linking up with Tasty Tuesday on For the Love of Blogs. You should swing by and check out some of the tasty recipes.

Cleaning Out the Clutter

This weekend we had a garage sale. It was really last minute but long overdue. We had one last year and 4 boxes of unsold stuff were still sitting the garage and needed to go, as well as 3 large boxes of clothes and other items I cleared out of the house.

We did pretty well – we earned about $350 in 5 hours and moved quite a bit of stuff. I will clarify that $150 of that total came from Hubby selling his road bike that he hadn’t ridden since 2007 when he bought his Surly.  

Anyway, I priced all of the kid’s clothes at $0.25 or less and my clothes were $0.25 - $3.00 which the bulk of stuff for sale was. That tells me that I sold a lot of stuff to total close to $200!

But even more important than actually making some money at the garage sale was the fact that I cleared some really unnecessary clutter out of our home and life.  I am notorious for collecting and hanging on to things and stuff and I am really trying to get over that. I really want to simplify our lives and focus on filling my family’s life with important people and memories instead of the “stuff” we fill our lives with. But it is hard for me to part with that dress from 1999 that is waaaaaay to small and will most likely never fit again. Why? I don’t know but damn, Gina, I am attached to crap like that.

Stuff is just stuff and just filler. The good stuff in life is the people who are important to us and spending time with them and making lasting memories.

Going forward, I am going to working on the de-cluttering and TRY and keep the accumulation of stuff to minimum, but it will be hard for me. Hubby, on the other hand, is more minimalist and has no problem with the de-clutter of our lives so he will be my zen master and guide on this journey.

Wish me luck!

Wordless Wednesday ~ 32/52

A few pictures from this weekend that made me happy:

Clean diapers drying on my new clothesline (thanks Hubby)

Lots of yummy veggies growing in the garden (thanks Hubby)

A new swing-set for the kiddos that was built by Hubby (thanks Hubby!)

Wordless Wednesday ~ 31/52

Peanut is starting soccer in a few weeks and dada took her to pick out her gear this weekend.

Working Mama Woes

I travel as part of my job. Not a lot and not far but I am required to travel. Usually it is for one or two nights and I don’t actually mind having a quiet hotel room to myself for the evening. I always miss my family like crazy, but sometimes the quiet is good for me mentally.

Today I am traveling to Denver, just overnight. Not a big deal except my baby boy, my snuggle puppy (great Sandra Boynton book and one of Little Man’s favorites) is not feeling well. He woke up around 4 screaming for mama and nothing would calm him down. We rocked, we snuggled we walked we climbed in bed with dada, but nothing soothed him. 

When I handed him to Hubby and kissed him goodbye he screamed. SCREAMED. And it broke my heart. It was all I could do not to break down right there. He wanted me to hold him, comfort him, snuggle him. And I couldn’t because I had to get on a plane to Denver.

I called to check in from the plane before and Hubby is keeping the kids home with him today because Little Man will not stop crying. We think it is a combo of 2 year molars and a tummy ache, but if he doesn’t settle down, Hubby is going to take him to the doctor.

It kills me that I am away from home when my baby needs me. He is in the best care available with Hubby, his dada who is the best at making anyone feel better, but I still feel like a rotten mama when I walk out the door hear my baby screaming for me.

I got an update from Hubby just a few minutes ago that my boy woke up with a high fever and they were off to the doctor and he would keep me posted.

Now I wait and miss my family, and try to focus on work.

Late-Night Kid Conversations

Peanut is a bit of a sleep walker and sleep talker. A few nights ago we had the this short, but interesting conversation:

Peanut: Dada. Dada. Dada.

Me: Honey, it's mama. What do you need?

Peanut: I need to go potty.

::I pick her up, carry her into the bathroom and get her on the potty. When she's done we wash hands and I carry her back to her bed::

Me: Good night, Peanut.

::kiss her on the forehead::

Peanut: We had banana chips at school today and I liked them.

When I asked her in the morning about it, she had no memory of getting up or telling me that she liked banana chips. She did proceed to tell me at length all about the banana chips, though.

Wordless Wednesday ~ 30/52

Daycare Blues ~ Part 2

Way back in May 2010, I wrote here about our experience with daycare. I am finally getting around to the next chapter.

::March/April 2007::

After driving by the next school on the list and not even stopping, we pulled over to discuss our options. We came to the conclusion that we were going to get what we were willing to pay for. It was decided. I called Miss Adrienne and told her we wanted the spot and would be by shortly to drop off our paperwork and deposit.

A week or so before Peanut's first official day at school, I made arrangements for a trial run to see how she and I both handled it. We got up, got ready, did the drive and the the drop off.

The dreaded drop off.

And it wasn't bad at all.

I punched in our security code and went into the building. It was bustling with parents and kids in the middle of coming and going. And everyone appeared okay. I walked into the infant room and was immediately greeted by Miss Viktoriya and adorable baby boy in her arms. It was early so he was the only baby there yet and she held him the entire time she walked me (very patiently) through what would become our morning routine.

I put Peanut's pre-labeled bottles in the fridge, her blanket in her crib, her clothes in her drawer and I filled out her daily sheet all while Miss Viktoriya held the other baby and talked to me and Peanut. She was amazing. I held Peanut and we then chatted about how long I would be gone, Peanut's schedule for eating/sleeping and what Miss Viktoriya had planned for the day.

Sometime during the conversation Miss Viktoriya had put the little boy on the floor with some toys and was now reach for Peanut. Peanut was a little hesitant but she didn't cry. I kissed her and walked out the door.

I made it all the way to Starbucks before it hit me that she really wasn't in the back seat and I could go in and enjoy a cup of coffee alone. It was weird.

I was also hard for me to really kill 3 hours before I went back to pick up Peanut. I didn't even remember what I did.

Finally it was time to go pick her up! When I got there, it was all I could do not to run in and grab her. But, I was instantly at ease when I walked in and saw her in Miss Viktoriya's lap on the floor playing. I just stood in the doorway with a smile and watched until she noticed me.

After that, I knew I would be okay with her at school and that she would be more than okay at school. We enjoyed the next few weeks at home and when her official first day rolled around, it was a good. I cried a little and she didn't even notice.

TO BE CONTINUED

All is Right With the World

Way back in February I wrote here about my drama with Pottery Barn Kids and a doll Peanut got for Christmas. 

 
After I posted the story on the blog and commented on Pottery Barn’s Facebook Page and website, I received a request to contact someone directly at Williams-Sonoma Inc. Corporate Customer Relations ~ so I did and I left my contact information.

We played phone tag for a week or so until we were finally able to connect. She apologized sincerely for the trouble and the issue and assured me that there sales team was working with the vendor to identify and correct any issues. ( I was pretty sure that I had already identified the issue – they just needed to fix it.)  Anyway, she said she would call me back within a week to let me know what, if anything she found out.

About a week later I had a voicemail from her saying that she hadn’t heard anything but she would keep me posted. I think this was early March. Maybe another week went by and I talked to her and she explained that as far as she knew, everything was fine on the manufacturing side and she offered to send us one last doll.

I said sure.

Hubby just shook his head because he knew that if I got another doll with crappy hair, I would totally lose it, but I wanted to give Pottery Barn one last chance to redeem themselves.

On April 6^th I received this email:

 Hi Amanda,

As follow-up to our phone conversation yesterday, I attempted to request another replacement Chloe doll be sent only to learn that we are totally out of stock and this doll is on backorder until August 2011.  If you would like to wait, I will put you on the backorder allocation list so that you will receive a replacement when our next shipment arrives in August.

Please let me know.

Warmest regards,

Jane Doe

Williams-Sonoma Inc.

Corporate Customer Relations

Now I honestly believe that if there was nothing wrong with the manufacturing, they would have been able to send me a doll right away or within a couple of weeks. 5 months is a long time for a something to be out of stock if there is nothing wrong with your manufacturing process. My guess (and it is just that, a guess) is that they did discover I was right and the manufacturer was screwing up the dolls and they had to fix something or find a new manufacturer.

Anyway, I responded and told her we would be happy to wait for a new doll. She said she would check in every few weeks and then let me know when the doll shipped.

That was the last I heard from her.

Whatever.

August was a ways off so I kind of put it out of my mind until last week when a box from Pottery Barn Kids arrived addressed to Peanut.

Guess what was inside:

L: New doll from PBK with good hair   R: 4th doll from PBK with crappy hair

We finally got the doll one would expect from Pottery Barn Kids. And although I have yet to hear from our Corporate Customer Relations persons, I do thank her for getting Peanut the doll and I thank Pottery Barn Kids for making this right.

And yes, Peanut did notice a difference right away with the hair.

Wordless Wednesday ~ 28/52 ~ Who Needs a Bed

When you can sleep on your Sissy's floor?