Weak excuses for not blogging and a recipe

So I've, ah, been really lazy, er busy. It's shit-ass hot here in Mid Mo and it sucks the ever-lovin' life outta me. The kids have been driving me nuts. It's too hot to think. I have lots of laundry to do. I've been in a depressive slump. I'm broke. Okay, all of that.

Life just comes atcha so fast sometimes that it's hard to catch your breath. I've been feeling that way lately. Of course there's work, then house work, family time, gardening - it's just all overwhelming at times. Coupled with being yes, broker than broke, and worrying about budgeting all the time and will we make the bills this months? And can I really afford to get the kids ice cream cones this weekend? And oh crap, I forgot to renew my car's registration last month and now there's a late fee? And what do you mean it's already time for an oil change again? Ugg. I'm sure you're there with me.

The truth is life goes on if you're broke or not and that's just what's been happening here. Gwendolyn is in summer school, hating every minute of it and vowing not to screw off next year and end up there again... which she also said last year... Fletcher's arm is healing up but the doc added two more weeks to his wearing a cast, so he's a bit bummed. I did purchase a wash tub, though, to make bathing a little easier. With a Wal-Mart sack on his cast, he can settle in for a good soak and really clean out that, ahem, private area, without much help from me. This week he will get a new, clean, tighter cast. He decided this one will be green. I'll post a pic when it all goes down.

My sweet husband purchased the new Lego Indiana Jones video game and he and Fletch have been pretty much playing it non-stop since. I hate playing video games with Fletcher (sorry, son) as it pretty much consists of him a) killing me repeatedly and him never dying and b) him winning always and me never scoring a point. Matt just has WAY more patience than I do when it comes to this stuff. I love to watch, though, as my husband is a dashing Lego Dr. Jones and my son is a cute, clever Lego Short Round. I'm thrilled to announce as well that I won an e-bay auction for a custom-made George Lucas Lego mini-figure. Okay, I don't know what I'll do with it, either, but we are REALLY into Legos at this house.

Okay, so here's an AWESOME recipe that even my very picky family LOVES. I mean, this chicken is the bomb-diggety and it's like really cheap to make, too. I changed the cook time to 350 degrees for 2 hours because we like our chicken falling off the bone, but the original recipe says 425 for one hour. Also, I was out of cider vinegar and used white and I'm not sure how many actual chicken thighs I had, I just used a package. So here you go:

Baked Terriyaki Chicken

1 TB corn starch
1 TB cold water
1/2 C white sugar
1/2 C soy sauce
1/4 C cider vinegar
1 clove garlic, minced (I used like 3, pressed)
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/4 tsp black pepper
12 chicken thighs (calls for skinless, but the skin is the best part so we left it on!)

1. In a small saucepan over low heat, combine everything except chicken and let simmer, stirring frequently, until sauce thickens and bubbles.
2. Preheat oven to 350.
3. Place the chicken pieces in a lightly greased (I lined with foil and then sprayed it with cooking spray - it's way easier to clean) 9x13 baking dish. Dump the sauce on. Turn the pieces over to evenly coat. The sauce is sort of thin but don't worry, it will coat well after repeated turnings.
4. Bake for 30 minutes then begin turning the pieces over with tongs like every 10 or 15 minutes or so. This builds up a nice, thick glaze. When the chicken is as done as you like, it's ready to consume! The leftover sauce in the bottom of the pan also tastes great on rice, which we serve on the side.

Broken bones and milestones

Fletcher broke his arm today at the mall. We were playing at the kid's court and he jumped off the giant basketball and hit his arm HARD on the basketball hoop. He broke it in two places! So he now has a bright orange cast for most of the summer. The doctor said it will be off for Disneyland in August, thank goodness. Please say prayers!!!

It was the most painful, sickening feeling I have ever had as a parent. He was standing there, poised at the top. I told him not to jump but I had that teasing, fun look I guess and didn't get up to physically take him off like I knew I should. That basketball is about four feet tall. It's a slide. He wasn't using it the way it was intended to be used. Who in the hell puts a four-foot-tall basketball in the freaking mall anyways?!?! So he jumps and he lands wrong and and he doesn't get up, just has this strange look on his face and the lady next to me says that's a broken arm. Same thing happened to my brother. That's a BAD break.

Of course I leapt to my feet of course I scooped him up and didn't know what to do, all the shopping bags and whatnot falling at my feet. Of course the lady told me to sit down and hold his arm still, was his arm hurt? I was so confused. Why was it flopping around there, his left arm, just flopping? And what is my husband's number at work and what hospital do you want him taken to and is he going into shock? Why isn't he crying and and and.... and it's all sort of a surreal blur. Except I remember the cell phone lady telling me, "Honey, I have two boys. He's four years old - this is when it starts. It's a milestone."

Ambulance time and I'm like, why isn't he more excited to ride an ambulance? But he's quiet, he's just so quiet. Hospital - x-rays, IV's, poked and prodded and still no tears. He is a virtuous saint. He is silent as a lamb and I'm holding it all together, not passing out, not screaming for some fucking pain medication for my son right now, he's only four years old!!! and I'm calm when Matt gets there and calm for the five hours it took to sedate him, set his arm, more x-rays, paperwork and more paperwork and etc.

And when it's over and he's ready to come home he asks the doctor why he cut off his Pirates of the Caribbean shirt? Because that was his favorite shirt and that wasn't very nice. And then he wants a Happy Meal. Just a Happy Meal. We would have given him the WORLD and he asks for a Happy Meal. That is my boy. So that is what he got. and when we got home and he ate and was propped up with a million pillows and I was in the kitchen getting him ice water I started crying and couldn't stop and even Gwen gave me a hug (she's really freaked out) and Matt gave me a hug and then Fletcher yelled, what's mom crying about now? So I stopped and then we played Star Wars. That's my Fletcher, that's my family.

He's really stoned on Tylenol 3 right now and walking around our house like a chicken, clucking. I think that means he'll be okay. He just came up to me and said, "Mom, this was the worst day ever because I broke my arm." And how.

Family Firsts

Fletcher has passed a major milestone kinda early, but with reflection, his sister did at his age as well - he has lost his first tooth! I wasn't really prepared for this - he's only four and a half! But I remember asking Gwen's dentist about it when she as a youngin' and he said that tooth loss was proportionate to when the child cut their first teeth. True or not, I'm not sure, but both my little buggers got their two bottom front teeth VERY early on, like at about 3 months of age - just AWESOME for the breastfeeding mom, let me tell ya.

Strange thing is, with all the inflation - groceries, gas, clothing, etc. - the going price for a lost tooth hasn't gone up in all the years since big sis Gwen lost her first one. Yup, the T.F. still leaves a bright and shiny 25 center under the ol' pillow. Twenty-five cents for that perfect little pearl of a baby tooth. My God, it was so small. Something so small to remind me how big my beautiful boy is getting. Matt said "It looks like a tiny chip off a regular tooth," and indeed he was right. Rolling it over in my hand I felt that strange trepidation a parent feels when you can sense the onset of the growing up of your little one. There is this sense of panic as you feel your child pulling away ever so slightly and really, Kindergarten isn't that far away and we all know school ruins a child for life. Ah, his babyhood is so far behind him now it's but a bright, warm blur. Fletcher seems to be straight-on truckin' through to big boy land before my very eyes and again, where's the pause button?

Matt has taught Fletch another amazing trick - to read two new words. And I am SO proud, not just because of the fact that my four and a half year old read two words to me today, but also because of the actual words: R2D2 and C3PO. Yes, my son loves Star Wars!!!! Woo Hoo! Well, he has for several years, but this, well, this is amazing and gratifying to me on SO many levels. BTW, you may be wondering what Gwen's first read-aloud word was (it was also the first word she learned to write, before her name, even: POOP. Yuppo, that's my girl.

Another family first: Thank to a GENEROUS offer from Grandpa Walt, the Family Banks is headed to Disney World!!!! Though Fletcher remains refreshingly oblivious (we aren't going till August and we didn't want to hear "are we going yet?" every day till then) our excitement is growing daily. Well, mine is, and obsessively so. It's true, I spend every spare minute at work googling every aspect of Disney Orlando I can possibly think of. And talking about it. All the time. To anyone who will listen. Yes, my co-workers hate me.

So. That is that. Be happy, readers, and wait for more Banks Family Firsts and Disney updates!!!

A Moment Like This, Part Deux

Well sorry for the big build-up and then the anti-climax which is here, right here. This post was to include photos of kids sportin' schwag and demonstrating happy feelings re-created after the big incident, but those children were uncooperative and I've hoarded the schwag and, well, I'll just tell you what happened: We encountered the Oscar Mayer Wienermobile!

Oh, it was so sweet. Waxed to wienerific perfection. Gleaming like a ginormous processed meat beacon in that Sam's Club parking lot. Oh, she was a beaut. Some people wait a life time for a moment like this. The kids were giddy. I was hyperventilating. Matt was patient. I beat him over the head with my purse to get him to park the damn Land Rover ANYWHERE so we could bolt for that gleaming glorious frankfurter. We left the car while it was still rolling and made a run for it lest we get left in the hot-dog scented dust - we were so scared it would leave before we got there! But mecca was there for us when we arrived. And the door was open.

I want to tell you every detail of the upholstered splendor that was the inside of that wiener, I really do. I want to tell you about the bun-shaped dashboard and the wien-tastic music playing, etc., but I won't. I'm not going to spoil it for you. It is more unbelievable and amazing than you can imagine. And you should imagine. If you haven't seen this 8th wonder of the world, then I feel sad for you. Hunt it down and do it. They give you prizes!

Yes, the wiener whistle urban legend is true. The driver gives you one. Even if you're a hysterical parent and they're really for the kids, lady. He also tells you hilarious jokes if you ask him questions like: "Do you sleep in here?" His response: "Of course not silly, it's not a wiener-bago!"

Anyhow, my family was brought closer by the experience. Gwen even hugged me, she was so happy. There is so much more I could say but no, I want you to experience this for yourself. Go get that wiener!

A Moment Like This

Once Upon A Time I thought I'd never be lucky enough to see it. Then on a vacation a couple years ago I saw it not once but TWICE on the Interstate, going the opposite direction. I thought it was a sign from above that everything was good and right in the world. I have heard of other sightings. Once while on staff at a newspaper I was told one was spotted in the Wal-Mart parking lot. I rushed over only to be disappointed - it had just left.

A few weekends ago when my family was in the city shopping, we saw one in a hotel parking lot. Empty, just sitting there, with a line of a billion cars circling it like sharks around a bleeding diver. And we didn't have a camera. So since me and the kids were screaming at the top of our lungs for a camera! Now! RIGHT NOW! My husband, kind and gentle soul that he is, took us to the nearest Target to buy a disposable Kodak, then emergency-style drove us back to the scene so we could burn a whole roll of film on it.

Then last weekend all our dreams came true... stay tuned for part 2

Cool Mom's Picks For M-Day

One of my fave websites, Cool Mom Picks, is throwing some fab schwag our way for the big day. Check out their awesome list of stuff to beg hubby for. Oh who am I kidding, probably can't afford any of it and if I post this ad I get entered into a big drawing! However, the stuff is still kewl.

I MISS MY MOMMY!!!

It's true, it's all true, it's no April Fool's joke, I MISS MY MOMMY! Curse you, Michigan, and your pristine perfection, family ties and jobs with perks luring my mommy away! I know, I know, it was my own choice to move 13 hours away from my homeland and gripe and bitch about my mom living far away and then gripe and bitch when she did move here and now gripe and bitch when she moves back home! Mom-ma! (think 'Stella!' type anguish-filled plaintiff howl).

Yesterday after work I went to the local second hand store. Not because I wanted to buy anything (and I didn't) but because it reminds me of mom. Yes, mom and I visited there several times over the course of her brief residency here, but really any second hand store reminds me of mom. There's this smell, this musty smell, this smell of treasure waiting to be discovered in the cast offs of closets of yore. The smell evokes warm childhood memories of quiet grey days spent discovering fantastic stuff with momma in dust-mote filled corners of these warehouses of wonderment.

Ever since I can remember mom took us kids to second hand stores. While she mainly stalked the clothing aisles, I would hunker down in the musty book section and find treasure upon treasure in the classics. Peyton Place, House of the Seven Gables, Even Cowgirls Get The Blues, I'm Ok, You're Ok, A Hitch hiker's Guide To The Galaxy, Blue Highways, On The Road, Zen and The Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, Jonathon Livingston Seagull - those titles and SO many more were mine for the price of a nickel, a dime, a quarter, I don't know, never more than a dollar, at the local St. Vincent DePaul.

My mom is famous for her second-hand splurges and on her many moves (mom's sort of a gypsy in more tasteful clothing), the first thing she'd stake out was where and how many second hand stores there were. Forget groceries, this is more important! Junking is sustenance, equally if not more important than food and water! One year for Christmas, we even gave her gift certificates to Goodwill because we knew she'd like the opportunity to junk more than anything we could buy her new. Yes, mom taught us there's something soul-nourishing about second hand store hunting. And there is.

And yesterday my soul needed nourishing. I needed my momma. So I perused the racks of the musty old store and stalked the perimeter for furniture and housewares and even visited the back room for extreme bargains, etc., and then I just cried. I just couldn't help it, the tears just came. I sort of wandered in between some racks and let it out. I just plain miss my mom. I know I'll get to see her again, and I'm sure we have many junk-store filled afternoons ahead of us. I just miss her right here and now and it was nice to have that safe haven of used stuff to express myself in. Love you mom. Miss you.