Saturday. a no agenda day

Saturdays in January and February present something this year that is rare in my house and is tending to throw my kids off.  For most of their lives they have come to me each day and said, "what are we doing today?" and I give them a list that sounds something like this "Max has a game at 11, Sam has a game at 12, but also has practice at 130 and Jack has a game at 3"  The beauty of January and February this year is that there are no games and usually no practices on Saturdays.  For the past two years the boys have done rec basketball to take the place of "baseballess" Saturdays.  But this year no basketball. Baseball practice has started but it is only Friday nights for Sam (thank you Beth Lamb for getting Sam there each week) and Sunday night for Jack (these are indoor, of course) So this morning, as I lay in my bed enjoying my morning coffee and reading my book on my kindle, as they entered one by one (without knocking of course) (and dont worry for those of you who watched Modern Family this week, I was alone :)  they asked "what are we doing today?" and I said "I don't know"..."nothing on my agenda". This statement was not really true as I do have a couple of things in mind, such as clean out and shred stuff in my file cabinet, do laundry, go food shopping at trader joes (I have to drive Max out to west end later so he can hang out with his cousin and go to his talent show at Godwin) go to the gym, facebook, balance check book, move money back around that I constantly moving around and feel good that its going to savings from checking (just got paid yesterday) read some more, sweep up do hair, ...and so on, you get the point.  So when I say "nothing" to the kids I really mean nothing that is of any interest to them. I posed a question to Jack and Sam. I asked them if they thought that I was in charge of entertainment. I told them that they are welcome to call their friends and make any plans they want and I am happy to drive them where they need to go.  Right now they are all upstairs playing Beatles Rockband so I have a moment before someone starts hitting someone, stealing drumsticks, microphones or messing up on too many notes on the guitar which really makes Max upset as he worships the Beatles. (Which is a Blog for another day)  Anyway, I used to panic at the thought of not having to be anywhere at a specific time, but I am loving it lately and knowing it wont last as Little League signups are today and next Saturday and tryouts come in Feb and then my life as I know starts again.
So so far today, besides drinking coffee and reading and checking in at face book (Jack just came in and said "they're not letting me play" so its all down hill from here...) I did do one thing constructive.  I have been entering the HGTV Dream House Contest every day. You can enter twice a day.  Not only do you win a house that is absolutely gorgeous (In Stowe, Vermont, but I guess if I win it I will work that all out) but you win $500,000 spending money and a brand new GMC Acadia.





That's the house and the car, nice right?


Dinner the other night was not a winner by the way.  Not sure what I'm making tonight but since I'm going to trader joes I'm sure it will be something from the frozen section there.  Trina had this great eggplant zucchini frozen thing in marinara sauce that was delicious and very few calories. She put it on top on pasta and it was good.  I'm thinking it would also be good on brown rice or couscous.

I'm tempted here to start talking about work and how busy it was yesterday. The beautiful full moon was definitely in play.  I just want to say that although we started with 7 and 8 apiece (Dana had 10 at one point) it went pretty smoothly with no drama.  I want to say a big shout out and thank you to Suzette from the NICU who was a breath of fresh air.  Enough said about work.  Hopefully more discharges today :) although we must have discharged 10 babies and moms yesterday and they kept on coming :)

Any suggestions for next my next book ?  Right now I am reading something that is called "The Ritual Bath" , It was a kindle bargain, only .99,  It is about a Jewish Community in California (called a Yeshiva) that is being attacked by crime, it is also a love story about how the main character who runs the Mikvah (which is the Jewish ritual bathhouse) falls in love with the head detective on the case, who is not Jewish.  It is pretty good mindless reading, but I need something better when I'm done with this.  Looking forward to Alice Hoffman's new book coming out on Tuesday.  Has anyone read "the Help" or "Room", I have read and heard these are supposed to be good.

Tonights Dinner

The daily question of what to make for dinner was upon me once again this morning.  Steve had cut out a recipe for some potato casserole with celery root from Country Living magazine to make some time this week. He gave me a list of things to buy for it, including celery root, which has to be one of the ugliest vegetables ever.  It looks like a big round ball covered in dirt.  Anyway we wound up going out to PF Changs on Tuesday night (and it was so good) so he didn't make it.  Wednesday night I just cook for the kids so we had cheese quesadillas and rice.  So I volunteered to make the potato casserole, but I told him he had to teach me how to cut the celery root.  He thought about this for a moment and told me he would make it on Sunday (thank goodness, because my least favorite job in the world is peeling potatoes).  So, as I starting out saying in the first paragraph..what to make for dinner. 

I looked through vegetarian times and there were some really good recipes, but seriously, the people who write that magazine must have live in chefs (I do, but not really) and grocery stores that specialize in selling things that no one has every heard of.  The recipes have about 10 steps and a lot of ingredients.  So, I went to my favorite in a pinch web site, morningstarfarms.com. Their recipes are simple and healthy.  So tonight for dinner we are having low fat vegetarian shepherds pie.  The mashed potato topping is made out of mashed cauliflower (which by the way is on sale at Kroger in the frozen vegetable section 10 for $10)  You steam the cauliflower and then mash it with a little skim milk, salt and pepper.   The filling is made out of morning star farms recipe crumbles (vegetarian chop meat) chopped carrots, pies, sauteed onions, a little garlic and ketchup.   I got  dole light ceaser salad and a loaf of crusty bread to go with it.  When the boys walk in the door in a little while and they ask whats for dinner, Ill just say casserole. They will roll their eyes, but unless it's spaghetti, hot dogs, or macaroni and cheese they roll their eyes anyway.  Well its all put together, I will bake it when I get back from the gym.
This is what it looks like before baking.

Here I go

So, one of my personal New Years resolutions was to start a blog. The part of me that I am really trying to work on this year (the part of me that is always worried what people will think) said to me "what if no one reads it, is interested in it or cares about it"? but you know what? Then I have a really sweet diary/journal of my thoughts.  I thought to myself that if one of my friends, acquaintances, peers, co-workers had a blog, I would probably read it because, first and foremost, I am nosy and also I like to see how others who are living similar lives do things and how they do them.  So, here it is. 

I am trying to figure out exactly how I will organize my blog.  I would like to include recipes that have worked out, decorating tips, coupons tips and good deals that I have gotten like Amy Taylor does...but also thoughts and stories about my life. If you enjoy it, let me know.
This will be a work in progress...but aren't we all works in progress.