Ho Hey...or should I say "Ho Hum" Yum?

So now that things have settled down and I've returned to the normalcy of my routine life, I thought I'd use this blog to report on the last of the crock-pot freezer meals I made.

Remember:  you will put all ingredients into freezer bags and freeze them UNCOOKED.  You'll defrost the meal in the refrigerator 24 hours prior to cooking it in the crock pot.

Each recipe is enough for two meals, so divide them among two freezer bags.

 Italian Pork Chops

2 onion, chopped

12 pork chops (thick)
4 tsps Italian seasoning
8 minced garlic cloves
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
2 28 oz diced tomatoes, undrained
4 TBSP balsamic vinegar
4 zucchini, halved lengthwise and cut crosswise into 1" pieces

Divide among 2 freezer bags.

Cook on Low 8-9 hours.
*Add 2 TBSP cornstarch and 2 TBSP cold water to cooking juices at the end after removing meat and vegetables.

This meal had a really good taste to it, but I was not crazy about the meat.  I'm not certain if it was because it was pork in general or because my cut of pork wasn't the greatest (I used a bone-in mixed variety).  A thick cut or even sirloin cuts might produce better results.  Or maybe chicken or beef sirloin would be better.

 Chicken Cacciatore

2 lbs chicken breast

2 26 oz chunky vegetable spaghetti sauce
2 zucchini, chopped
2 green peppers, chopped
2 onion, chopped

Divide among 2 freezer bags.

Cook on Low 6-8 hours.
Serve with spaghetti noodles.

The zucchini was a bit mushy, making it hard to identify it in contrast to the green peppers.  My husband even asked me what the green stuff was (and he likes grilled zucchini).  But overall, this was a good, basic meal.

Mongolian Beef

2 lbs stew meat

4 tsp olive oil
2 onions, thickly sliced
2 TBSP minced garlic
1 cup soy sauce
1 cup water
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup hoisin sauce
1 tsp ginger

Divide among 2 freezer bags.

Mix ingredients together.
Cook on Low 6-8 hours.
Serve with rice.

I really liked this one.  It had a unique taste that made it more than just another beef meal.  However, my husband was a bit turned off by the bold flavor--he's not a big fan of onions and garlic anyway.  I do think that adding some veggies, particularly broccoli, would be good, so I might add that into it after cooking the second batch--or, if I make a fresh batch in the future, I might add frozen broccoli and see how it turns out.

Honeyed Pork BBQ

32 oz carrots
2  3 lb pork sirloins
1 cup BBQ sauce
1/2 cup honey
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper

Divide among 2 freezer bags.

Cook on Low 8-10 hours.

If you don't like BBQ pork, then you won't like this one.  But we do, so this is a good staple for us. The only thing I'd suggest is cutting back on the carrots, as we didn't eat them all.

So that's all of the crock-pot freezer meals I tried.  I've still got the second batch of each in the freezer, so I won't be trying any new recipes until I've completed those.  But if any of you run across any that look good, please let me know!

 

Dancing Queen Leaving Las Vegas

Vacations are always looked forward to.  And when you're a mom, well, vacations without the kids are dreamed of, longed for, and relished.  Waiting at the airport--sitting, with absolutely nothing to do--is a luxury.  Room service--someone else preparing your food and bringing it to you--is decadence.  And sleeping--without stealthy ninjas slipping into your room in the middle of the night and staring at you until you startle awake--until you want to get up--without someone saying, "Get up, Mama, get up!"--is the ultimate vacation. 

But Sunday morning, just two days into our vacation, I woke up with an aching emptiness that went deep into my core.  To say I missed my babies is an understatement.  I longed for them, to hear their laughter, to smell their distinct smells, to see each unique set of eyes and freckles.  I wanted them to physically tug on my hand as they were emotionally tugging on my heart.

It was the day of the big event, the ACMs, and I was incapacitated.  Instead of sitting out by the pool, relaxing before the ultimate primp session, I was lying in bed sobbing. 

I flipped through pictures on my phone, trying to console myself. 

But their smiling faces only made me feel that much further away from them.

Ron tried to console me by saying it was only 48 more hours before I'd see them again, but that seemed an interminable amount of time. The only thing I could do was to get up and busy myself with something, to keep the sadness at bay. I did what was natural to me:  I straightened up the room.  

While tidying the desk, I came across a letter Trey had slipped into our luggage before we left:

Surprisingly, it made me feel better.  

So I started getting dressed.  

There's just something about a warm shower; it's so therapeutic in many ways, and in this case it seemed to wash away another tinge of the sadness.  Before I knew it, I was ready to put on my dress.  

My mind slipped back to a couple of days before leaving for Vegas, when I had tried on the dress with all its accessories one last time before packing it all up.  James David and Jacob had burst through the bathroom doors (as they are so apt to do) while I was twirling around getting a 360 degree view.  They stopped abruptly and both breathed, "wow, look at Mama!"  Jacob said, "Mama a princess!"  James David concurred, "she a princess...with dancing shoes!"

My eyes brimmed with tears as I thought about that moment...but my heart warmed too.  My boys thought I was a princess.  And so I was a princess--and I did dance--that night.

I'm back home now, and I'm far from that princess in dancing shoes.  I'm surrounded by dirty laundry, toys and clutter, and mounds of papers to grade, and my comfy pants, t-shirt, and flip-flops are far from the glitz and glamor I left just two short weeks ago.  I'm back to solving disputes over toys, wiping noses and rears, and waking up at ungodly hours to fulfill large demands from tiny people.  And my blogs will revert to the ho-hum everyday themes of potty-training, crock-pot freezer meals, and what to do with your children over the summer.  

But that's okay.  I had a blast being a Dancing Queen in Las Vegas.  But I'm much happier being Princess Mommy to my little princes at home.

Viva Las Vegas!

Finally, the time had arrived...to step on the plane.  Let me be frank:  I HATE flying.  It's not the delays (though those are annoying), the baggage fees (which are excessive and unfair), or the security checks (which make me feel like a criminal even though I'm far from one!).  It's the sensation of flying, of powering up into the air and being 25,000 + FEET ABOVE THE GROUND.  If the plane falls, chances are, I'm not going to make it.  It's the most helpless feeling in the world to me--even worse than being pinned down and tickled, and it causes me extreme anxiety. I've been told repeatedly by Ron and others that my fears are irrational; irrational or not, it's how I feel, and feelings are rarely rational.

So it's got to be a really good reason for me to get on a plane.  And Merle's two nominations were two good reasons.  And the glitz and excess of Vegas with friends was another good reason.  Fortunately, these reasons lived up to their promise.

It's not often--at least any more--that I get to dress up in flashy clothing (fondly dubbed hootchie clothes by my friends and me) and go play hard with my husband and friends.  So I took advantage of that in Vegas.

We opted not to stay on the strip this time and to instead stay at the Palms.  It's seen as a hip casino/resort with trendy nightclubs such as Moon--which I didn't get to go to--and Ghostbar, and the spring breakers from USC obviously agreed.  My "hootchie" clothes looked like they were from the Victorian era in comparison to these girls.  The proverbial "less is more" definitely didn't apply in this case.   The only thing we had in common was our dislike (to put it mildly) of Lane Kiffin.


But who stays where they're staying while in Vegas?  We ventured out to Freemont Street, where there were several live concerts, and saw the light show.  We explored the Golden Nugget, made popular once more due to a 2004 reality show based around it and its new owners.  We walked the "streets" of Caesar's Palace Forum Shops and attempted to witness the fountains of Bellagio, though they were canceled due to extreme winds (it was actually cold and rainy--IN VEGAS--that day).  And we gambled, of course. 

The main attraction, the ACM Awards Show, came Sunday night.  Of all the awards shows Ron and I have gone to in the past, this one was, as a whole, the most entertaining and memorable.  And it wasn't because we had the best seats we've ever had before, only 10 rows away from the stage, three rows behind the likes of Kelly Clarkson (love her!) and Kaley Cuoco (my husband loves her), and within lunging distance of Taylor Swift, Keith Urban, and Brad Paisley and Blake Shelton at certain performance points in the show.  And ACM Performer of the Year Luke Bryan's parents sat behind us.

I will be honest:  I'm awed by celebrities, and though my interactions have been limited, I have had a couple of "moments" in the past--like when I made Sisco spin on the red carpet of the CMT Awards Show and when Blake Shelton looked me in the eye and nodded at me after shouting at him that his "choir rocked!" (in reference to his participation in Clash of the Choirs, a reality show in 2007, before The Voice).  I even had my picture made with Gary Allan the night before at the ACM Radio Awards Reception.  So to be literally in the midst of celebrities, I was star-struck.

If that wasn't enough, the performances were, for lack of a better word, outstanding:  

• The Band Perry electrified the audience.  And trust me when I say the televised version of it did  not do it justice.  Everyone in the audience was in awe.  It was like being at a country Kiss concert. 
  
• Going from one extreme to another, Eric Church's "Love Me Like Jesus Does" performance was beautiful and moving; the televised version of it was very nice with him shown in black and white and his female counterpart in red.
• Carrie Underwood and Miranda Lambert, female titans of the industry, lived up to their status.  In particular, Miranda's performance was so fun!  I love the song "Mama's Broken Heart" to begin with, and she was such a fiery spark-plug of energy on the stage. 
  
• And it will be hard to determine the best Group Performance of the Year next year because the opening act with Blake Shelton, Luke Bryan, Brad Paisley, the Pistol Annies, Miranda Lambert, and Sheryl Crow (did I forget anyone?) was the perfect start to the show.
  
• Tim McGraw, Taylor Swift, and Keith Urban later gave a fantastic performance with Keith, in my opinion, stealing the show with his unbelievable talent playing, or should I say owning, the guitar.  He and Brad Paisley simply amaze me with their skills.
  
• And, of course, there was the historic performance of two legends:  George Strait and Garth Brooks.
• To top it off, Hunter Hayes and Stevie Wonder!  What!?  Crazzzzy!  Too bad your DVRs shut off before the television audience could see this one!
  

The after party (though much larger and disappointingly less intimate than in the past) didn't disappoint either with appearances by Jason Aldean, Luke Bryan, Jewel, Little Big Town, Keith Urban, and Hunter Hayes, just to name a few.  The biggest winners for me at the After Party were Keith Urban and Hunter Hayes.  First off, Keith Urban just kept coming back out--either to sing or play his guitar with someone!  And Hunter Hayes, someone who was not even close to being on my radar before the event, has a new fan in me.  That kid is so talented!  He played bass for Keith Urban and drums for Stevie Wonder.  In fact, he can play 30 instruments!  And he's not bad to look at or listen to either!  :)

It was such a memorable experience and the enjoyment of the evening carried on after the After Party, so it was a good thing that our return trip was scheduled for Tuesday.  

Though that was a good plan strategically,  my heart was ready to leave Las Vegas.

I'm Here for the Party!

I think the last time I spent so much time working on my appearance was my wedding day.  Hair, nails, tan, accessories and such were of utmost importance. 

Fast forward nearly eleven years now, and while I do care about my appearance, everyday life with work and the kids preclude me from caring about all the fine details.  Most wives and mothers understand that everyone else gets taken care of first.  And if there's time (and money) left, then we get taken care of. 

For example, while bathing the twins is when I give myself a "pedicure," which consists mostly of a quick soak (while sudsing down two squirmy kids), a quick buff, and, if I'm feeling really fancy, a quick polish.  Manicure?  What's that?  And my hair gets done every two months, if I'm lucky.  There's no time for a tan, not even in the summer.  I mean, how and when would I really "lay out"? 

So this need or desire, call it what you will, to get all polished up for Vegas was both a luxury and a stressor.  I've had an obsession with the hair color of Cheryl Cole (seen below) for at least a year now, so the hair part wasn't that difficult, except for not knowing how I wanted to fix it.  My hairdresser kindly presented a tutorial on my hair on how to curl it with a curling iron--the right way.  That was very enlightening (as, honestly, I didn't realize how many things I had been doing "wrong").

 o

As for my fingernails, while I prefer the gel nail method, I decided that since my nails were ravaged by everyday wear and tear and the winter cold, I'd have to go with a full set of acrylics, something I haven't done since college. 
 

Before

After

I've never been a fan of my feet, and the older I get, the uglier they are.  Just so you understand the sad state of my feet (my picture is purposefully deceptive), the other day, Jacob saw the callus on the side of my big toe (which I've been told is due to the way I walk).  He said, "Mama! What happened to your toe?"  I guess it did look like a case of leprosy next to the soft newness of his not quite three year old skin.  I don't even want to think about what the pedicurist thought of my feet as she filed and buffed those suckers down.

Before (this was also my before tanning lotion too)

After  (I decided some glitter sparkles were appropriate)

But the biggest problem I had was with the tanning.  I haven't been in a tanning bed since before I was married.  And I always felt guilty and anxious about using them anyway.  We've all heard the horror stories about people's insides being cooked and have seen the pictures of women with sagging wrinkled cancer riddled skin.  Besides, I don't tan that quickly.

I'd used the tanning moisturizer in the past, so I thought I'd try that.  But the smell was so bad, and while it did darken my skin, the results were not "dramatic" enough.  I took before and after pictures, and you really couldn't tell a difference in the pictures.  I knew it was time to consult authorities in matters such as these:  my students.

Several female students advised that I should get a spray tan.  I got a spray tan once, and it was awesome.  But the downside was that when it started wearing off, it somewhat peeled or flaked off in sections, which was creepy looking.  When I expressed this concern, my students looked at me with a somewhat blank expression, which, I've come to learn, means, "what is she talking about?"  It was then that I realized the spray tan I had was nearly a DECADE ago!  Apparently, great advancements have been made in spray tan technology as they now fade rather than gruesomely shed.  (It's times like these that I sadly realize that while I continue to get older, my students are always the same age.)   

So a spray tan it was:  The process was super fast and easy, and the results, though not as long lasting as I had hoped, were outstanding!  If you've never tried a spray tan before, I highly recommend one if you need a quick "tan" within 48 hours.

So after all the shopping and preparation, 

now I can proclaim, "I'm Here for the Party!"

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!