Something in Red

So while riding the high of finding out that his radio station, Merle 96.7 FM, had been nominated by the Academy of Country Music for TWO awards, Radio Personality of the Year (Jack Ryan) and Radio Station of the Year, something that no country music station had ever accomplished against WIVK (and WIVK was not nominated this year), my exuberant husband proclaimed on Facebook, "Go get you a dress!  We're going to Vegas!"  

For those of you who are unaware, the ACMs hold their annual Awards Show in Las Vegas.  We've been several times in the past, but this time, well, this time, it was for totally different reasons.  Our station had been nominated.  We'd be sitting on the floor with all the country music corporate big-wigs and country music artists and stars.  This time, it wasn't just for fun; it was for business (and pleasure) and for celebration of my husband's vision, his hard work, and his commitment to "dancing with the ones who brought you," Total Country, the new and the old.

Any old dress just wouldn't do.  Lorrie Morgan's song "Something in Red" kept playing through my head, though I really wanted something in blue.  I had no idea it would be as hard as it was to find "the dress" I was looking for. 

When I started out, I was grateful that it was prom season--a large selection to choose from, right?  Ha!  Apparently, long dresses and "mullet" style dresses are the trend now.  Finding a short dress, a "fun" strappy back, with sequins and beads, in blue, AND in my size, that was a tall order.  The sales ladies kept urging me to "just try it on," but the boutiques in town, for some unknown reason, carry dresses only in sizes that I probably wouldn't have been able to fit in pre-babies, much less post-babies, so "just try it on" was an exercise in futility.

So my search turned to the internet.  Normally, I love shopping on the internet, but with something like this, it was a real crap-shoot.  What if it didn't fit?  What if it didn't fit right?  We all know how something can look great on a model but look terrible on us real people.  But since I couldn't try anything on, I had to take the risk and order a dress. 

After endless pins, texts, and emails, I finally made a decision:

It felt great to have that decision settled...for three hours.  

A phone call from the company I ordered it from put my life into a tailspin.  The dress, my dress--in the size and color I needed, was back-ordered until May.  Stupid prom!

Back to the internet.

One week later, I decided on this dress:
 

And I waited on pins and needles for another week until I received an email confirmation that the dress shipped.  Then I agonized for another week until it came in.  It took me two days to work up enough courage to try it on.  

It fit.  Perfectly.  Relief!

That relief didn't last long, however, as I quickly realized things weren't over.  Fortunately, I had jewelry and a great pair of shoes I had picked up on the random a few years ago that would work perfectly.  But I still needed a strapless-backless bra, a purse, a mani/pedi, a hair "touch-up," and a SUN TAN!  In the past these things wouldn't have stressed me out much, but with work and the kids, time was limited.  

So how did I spend my Spring Break? Getting ready for the party!

Dr. Feelgood

"Calling Dr. Feelgood!  Calling Dr. Feelgood!  The Meredith household needs you!"

Ever since November, it's been an endless cycle of sickness, starting with Trey falling victim to the flu over Thanksgiving in MS.  Being away from home while ill is never fun, especially when it's within the small confines of my mother's house during a holiday and everyone is literally on top of one another--a three bedroom house slept eleven.

Since then, it's been cold after cold, followed by the twins getting strep, then me getting strep, the twins getting walking pneumonia, and then picking up the stomach flu while at the doctor for pneumonia, then me getting the stomach flu, and now Trey getting walking pneumonia.

I feel mostly bad for Trey, as he seems to get sick during the most inopportune times, first Thanksgiving, then Christmas, and now he misses his class field trip and his friend's birthday party.  I "got" to miss work during both illnesses, so besides falling behind on things, I didn't miss out on anything like poor Trey.

In fact, I got to sleep.  During both illnesses, I slept  more in 48 hours than I typically do in an entire week.  So I really can't complain.  This ability to recuperate was due largely in part to my husband stepping in (it's amazing what men can do when they HAVE to!) and my recently acquired help with the kids and the house.  And, again, my slow-cooker freezer meals.  

I can't say it enough--these meals have come in handy more times than I can count, and I'm not even halfway through them.  Even if I wasn't feeling well enough to eat them, I didn't have the extra burden of guilt on me that my family wasn't eating well.  And when I did feel well enough, I had a "home-cooked" meal ready for me.  And for me, at least, good food makes me feel good.

Here's the latest slow-cooker freezer meal we tried:

Cuban Braised Beef & Peppers

2 28 oz diced tomatoes, drained

4 red bell peppers, sliced

2 onions, cut into 8 wedges each

4 tsp oregano

2 tsp cumin

salt & pepper

3 lbs sirloin steak, cut into thirds (shred after cooked)

Divide among 2 freezer bags.

Freeze.  Defrost 24 hrs. prior to cooking.

Cook on low 7-8 hours.

Serve with rice.

Trey didn't like the taste of the meat (surprise, surprise), but no one else in the household had any problems with this meal.  We like steak and peppers anyway, so this just added a little flavor with the cumin.  We've been trying to cut down on our carbs, so we ate this mostly without rice.  Eating it with rice would definitely stretch the meal, but we still got two solid dinners out of one freezer bag worth.

With spring (hopefully) on the horizon, I'm looking forward to better health and to utilizing the grill for meals, but the slow-cooker freezer meals will still be an invaluable convenience.  Here's to feeling good!

Sweet Child of Mine

Some of the best memories I have of growing up include my birthday parties--skating rink parties, sleepover parties, pizza parties, and even the one with the Smurf cake and pink champagne (what were my parents thinking?!).  So it's no surprise to me why I love planning my kids' birthday parties.  I love picking (or helping to select) a theme, the decorations, the festivities, the food, the cake, and the gifts.  And the more hands-on I can be, the better, although I must admit that while I try very hard, I am certainly not very crafty.

Some of my favorites include the Elmo cake I made for the twins' second birthday:

Before the twins got into it.

James David decided that forks were overrated.

Jacob agreed.

I was also impressed with my ability to make a Perry the Platypus pinata for Trey's 5th birthday party:

Perry the Platypus!  What are you doing here?

And the treasure hunt for the goodie bags at the end of Trey's pirate birthday party last year was a great success (and much safer than a pinata!).  He's even requested that again.

Arrr ye ready for a treasure hunt?

These are great memories that I hope they will cherish well into their adulthood.  So, yes, I go all out for birthday parties (you should see me at Christmas!).  And I say that so that you don't take what I'm about to say the wrong way...

                               ...it's a bit ridiculous what many of us do for our kids' first birthdays. 

I've had the opportunity to go to two 1st birthday parties within the past month, most recently the first birthday party of my nephew Max.  From beautiful and tasty (yet disgustingly expensive) cakes to specially made outfits, there are some elaborate and costly first birthdays going on!  And Trey's was no exception--I had his catered for crying out loud!  So I'm just as guilty! 

Going all out isn't really a problem; but when you consider that our kids aren't able to understand or remember a shred of it, you have to wonder what we're going all out for.

I think my sister Jaci said it best:  "It's a celebration--a celebration for us all.  We made it through the first year.  And we didn't damage him!" 

 

Max's 1st birthday party (and first birthday cake)!

That truly is something to celebrate!  They're one only once.  They have their first birthday and first birthday cake only once.  And we get to revel in our amazing accomplishment as parents, rounding the corner of that first year mark, only once.

So Happy First Birthday Sweet Child of Mine!

It's So Easy

As promised, I tried another chicken recipe from the slow-cooker freezer meal experiment:  Chicken Teriyaki.  Maybe there was a bit too much pineapple, maybe there could be more chicken, and maybe some red bell pepper would be a nice addition, but overall, I was pleased with this meal.  My sister doesn't like what she calls "sweet meat," and I was concerned that this might be a bit sweet.  While it did have a sweet hint to it, it was not at all too sweet.  And all the kids ate the chicken meat without complaints, and my husband did not complain about having it for two nights last week.  Like with most of these slow-cooker freezer recipes thus far, this one yielded us two dinners and two lunches.

Teriyaki Chicken

 16 oz. carrots

red onions in chunks

2 lg cans chunk pineapple, undrained

4 garlic cloves

4 chicken breasts

1 cup teriyaki sauce

Divide among 2 freezer bags.

Freeze.  Defrost 24 hours prior to cooking.

Add 1/4 cup sauce (extra) to pot when cook.

Low 6-7 hours.

Again, it was so convenient to just throw this in the crock-pot and have dinner ready; convenience is especially important to me at this time of year when the papers start rolling in from my students, Trey has more "challenging" assignments to complete, and illness continues to strike our household (I think a Lysol or Clorox bomb is called for!).  If your life is anywhere as hectic as mine and you haven't tried this crock-pot freezer meal method yet, I highly recommend doing so!

Even if you don't try this method, one of my cousins reminded me of another great crock-pot meal that is so tasty that it's almost hard to believe it's so simple! 

Salsa Chicken

16 oz. bag frozen corn

1 can black beans, drained

4 chicken breasts

1 24 oz. jar salsa

1 envelope taco seasoning

Layer corn, beans, & chicken in crock pot.

Sprinkle with seasoning, and top with salsa.

Cook on low 6-8 hours or on high 4 hours.

Shred chicken and return to pot.

Serve on chips, in tacos, as burritos, as quesadilla filling, or chilled on a salad with desired toppings, like cheese and sour cream.

I usually freeze half of this after it's made because it makes so much!  I could also see this being used as a crock-pot freezer meal; I don't see why it couldn't be made and frozen raw and then defrosted and cooked.  I might try doing that the next time I make a fresh batch of freezer crock-pot meals.

I've had quite a bit of chicken here lately, so I'm going to shake things up a bit and try the Cuban Braised Beef & Peppers next!

When the Saints Come Marchin' In...

Trey got a calendar from my mom for Christmas last year.  He became enthralled with looking at dates with "holidays" listed.  When he asked about Mardi Gras, I immediately went down the rabbit hole of memories of when I spent time in New Orleans (and Mobile, AL for Mardi Gras) during my MS/AL upbringing.  

New Orleans was a short road trip away; in college, we'd finish up Rush and head to New Orleans for the week-end, no big deal.  Most of my memories, honestly, are filled with quite a bit of debauchery, including too many Hurricanes at Pat O'Brien's, resulting in things that will remain unmentioned, and the infamous Lucky Dogs that look much better going down.

But then I remembered all the other exciting aspects of New Orleans and its culture, the music, the architecture and history, the Mardi Gras parades with the elaborate floats, colors, and costumes, and the food--crawfish etouffee, jambalaya, beignets at Cafe du Monde, and King Cakes.

It was at that moment that I decided we would have a Mardi Gras party of our own--family friendly style.  We wouldn't be able to go to New Orleans, but we'd bring New Orleans to us:

Trey and I made our own Mardi Gras masks, using sequins, glitter, and feathers, and stock metallic masks, all from the Dollar Tree.

We ate King Cake--from Kroger for $6.  (If you want to get really authentic, you can order them online straight from New Orleans, but with shipping, they're nearly $50.)

And we had our own Mardi Gras parade, consisting of me standing on my "float" (ok, so it was the couch), tossing beads and coins (again from the Dollar Tree) at my kids while singing "When the Saints Come Marchin' In."  I'm sure we were a sight--my husband just watched us and shook his head--but it was a lot of fun.  

This was our second year having our own Mardi Gras party, and I intend to make it a family tradition.  Maybe next year we'll add some jambalaya to the mix (though Trey won't eat it).  And who knows, maybe one year we'll actually make a float--or at least dress up the couch!

Savin' Me

I tried two of my slow cooker freezer meals this past week, and they truly saved me!

I came down with strep throat, and normally under these circumstances, it would've been fast food to the rescue for the family.  But since I had taken "Beef Tips and Gravy" out of the freezer to defrost Sunday night, all my sick body had to do on Monday was throw it in the crock-pot.  Later, I made some instant rice in the microwave and warmed up some canned green beans, and the family had a warm, wholesome dinner as I staggered back off to the bedroom.

The Beef Tips & Gravy was a huge hit with everyone, especially Ron.  And it is super simple:

3 lbs. beef tips or cubed stew meat

2 pkgs dry onion soup mix

2 cans cream of mushroom soup

2 cans beef broth

Divide among 2 freezer bags.

Mix together.

Freeze.

Defrost 24 hours prior to cooking.

Cook on low in crock-pot 6-8 hours.

Serve with rice.

We got  2 dinners out of one freezer bag.

And while I was still recuperating, I took another meal, "Ranch Pork Chops," out of the freezer to defrost and made it on Wednesday:

3 lbs pork chops

2 Ranch dressing mix

2 cream of chicken soup

Divide among 2 freezer bags.

Mix together.

Freeze.

Defrost 24 hours prior to cooking.

Cook on low 4-6 hours in crock-pot.

Serve with mashed potatoes. 

This one was okay.  I will acknowledge that I didn't have the best cuts of pork chops, so that might have affected our overall impression.  I'm actually having to cut up the rest of the chops and find some type of casserole to use the meat in to finish it up.  But overall, it wasn't bad, but it just didn't taste as great as I had expected.

I'm cycling back to another chicken recipe this week, so I'll let you know how it goes with a later blog!

As Frankie says, "Relax!"

It's both funny and refreshing to observe and reflect on the attitudes of children when it comes to social expectations.

For instance, I know kids go through phases where they don't like to wear clothing, but James David seems to really embrace his nakedness.  He will beg, scream, plead, stomp his feet until I agree to help him out of his clothing.  The other day when I asked him why he wanted to wear no clothes, his response was, "Why not?"

Later, when trying to coerce him to wear pajamas, even pulling out all the stops--his favorite Spiderman PJs--he said, "No Spiderman.  I wear my baby body!" as he rubbed his hands up and down over his chest.

I have a difficult time getting him to wear clothing outside of the home, and it's beginning to wear off on Jacob.  For example, neither was interested in wearing clothing to go out in the snow this past Saturday, but they both were quite aware of needing hats and mittens.

What makes this "situation" even more laughable is although James David does not wear any clothing, he usually still wears his cowboy boots.  He adamantly refuses to take those off.  I can envision him taking over the role of the Naked Cowboy in New York one day.  Boy, will we be proud parents!

But maybe we should all be a little more like James David.  I'm not advocating becoming a nudist, by any means, but most of us, myself included, could be a little more comfortable in our own skin. 

Somewhere along the line, we start to worry about what others think.  And maybe some degree of that is okay and healthy.  I mean, after all, it's just good health practice and common courtesy to brush your teeth, right?  But for those of you who really know me and my OCD personality, well, I can take it to extremes, not just when it comes to me, but also when it comes to my children and my home.  (I've learned by this point that Ron is an entity unto himself; while he does seek my feedback, I have no control over him, and I'm at peace with that--I think.)

I don't want to be seen as the slob housekeeper, the unkempt wife, or the parent with the stinky kid.  My sister has laughed at these concerns, and you may too, but I've been caught with my proverbial "pants down" on several occasions, and I have confirmation that those thoughts registered in the minds of those who have witnessed such occasions.

Ultimately, I know there's a fine line between being respectful, appreciative, and courteous (which I am a strong advocate of) and going overboard into the counter-productive abyss of "what others think."  

For those of you who have found this balance, I both admire and envy you!  But just so you know--because I don't want you to think poorly of me!--I'm working on it!  :)