The Crab Chronicles

Three Easy, Tasty One Dish Meals

I have decided while I am not working I am going to seriously try and develop some additional one-dish meal recipes that we all like. 

Even though I am a stay-at-home mom, for the moment, it's good to have these recipes handy, because when I go back to work I'd like some crock pot things I can put on to cook before I leave in the morning, and they will be ready when I get home.

The genesis of this is that Mother and I have gotten into the habit of eating lunch every day while watching Ina Garten's show, Barefoot Contessa, and sometimes some Rachel Ray, too. Rachel makes some strange food sometimes, but Ina always has us going "oooh" and "aaah" and "wow, I bet that's good!" while we watch. Besides, we like a cook who is chubby; and Ina just seems very down-to-earth. I know she lives in the Hamptons but she seems very nice anyway.

So today, while Mother finished her sandwich, I decided to try a variation on my new favorite meal, Crock Pot Chicken and rice - and vegetables. I put about 4 tablespoons of Plugra butter in the bottom of the crockpot, and added half a cup of white wine, and about a teaspoon of Herbes de Provence. I also added some fresh black pepper and a good hard squeeze of fresh lime. I salted my chicken filets carefully and left them on paper towels to absorb the salt. That makes them extra soft and flavorful.

While the chicken was resting in the salt, I chopped up a bunch of baby carrots, portobello mushrooms, and a stalk of celery and threw them in. I am not crazy about any of these items cooked, but if they are cooked until mushy in a delightful broth of butter, wine, and chicken stock and herbs - yummy. They also retain their vitamins in the broth, Mother says. I then covered everything with chicken stock [Kitchen Basics is my fave brand] and put the lid on them. That will cook down for about 7-8 hours. The last hour or two, while I am watching Michael's baseball game, I will call and get Alesia to throw in a cup of rice and probably some water, and let it boil on high for about 15 minutes.

You can't beat chicken and rice for an easy, comforting dinner.

I made Shepherd's Pie about a week ago, and I didn't have the usual ingredients, so I improvised. The result was quite yummy, Spinach Shepherd's Pie. Not a crock pot dinner, but easy easy.

I started by browning ground beef in a little olive oil. We buy ground sirloin. The cheaper ground beef is never as good. Sirloin doesn't all just melt away in fat - it's real beef. Of course, you can use ground turkey or chicken if you prefer.

I got out the pre-made mashed potatoes. These are compromise - not as easy as instant potatoes in a box, but much faster than boiling and mashing the potatoes yourself.

 
So, mix those in a bowl with some butter and salt and pepper and onion powder. Throw in some cheese and sour cream if you want a really rich taste.

Next, prepare the spinach. That means get it out of the freezer and take the film off the top. We used two packages, but one would be OK, too.

   

Run the spinach souffles in the microwave for about 2 minutes, on high, then take them out and stir in some cheese and onion powder. Stick them back in the microwave for 3-6 minutes, depending on the strength of your microwave. When they're about 2/3 done, pull them out. Take a cup of cottage cheese or Ricotta cheese [I like Sorrento] and add in lots of garlic powder, fresh black pepper, and whatever other seasonings y'all like. Season it up because cheese and potatoes are bland, bland.

Now make your stratas. Bottom layer is the ground beef. Next take spoonfulls of spinach and dot them over the beef, then take the back of a spoon and gently connect the dots. Do the same with the potatoes. I use this method with lasagna, too. It helps to gently keep the layers separated.Top with grated cheese. Bake at 350 for about 30-40 minutes, or until cheese on top is bubbling. You just need everything to be heated thoroughly.

My kids won't eat fresh spinach too well, but they love Stouffers. 

You could always make this dish on Sunday afternoon and stick it in the fridge, pulling it out to cook after work, while you supervise homework.

Here's a third dish, which I think I have talked about here before, but in case not... it's Veggie Beef soup, and it can be made and put on the back of the stove in a heavy pot all day on low. Use a lb. of ground beef, browned; throw in a jar of Classico tomato sauce, a package or can or two of Veg-All, and enough beef broth to make it as thin or as thick as you like. About an hour before eating, throw in a couple of handfulls of dried pasta and bring it to a boil. Cook until pasta is done. 

Here's a great site that shows all the different Classico sauces. 

We had gotten a while back where we ate this soup so much I got thoroughly sick of it. If you don't like or don't want to use Veg-all, use whatever canned veggies are in the pantry. A can of green beans and a can of niblets corn are also great. Season it well. We throw in Soy Sauce, pepper, garlic, whatever else looks savory. 

Michael loves this soup. LOVES it.

Oh, I should share this, since I am talking about easy things to cook all day. Barbequed Pork Chops are so yummy. Yesterday, I took some nice thick boneless pork chops, salted and peppered both sides, and put them in a small dish. I put some Bulls Eye barbeque sauce on top and covered the chops thinly, then covered the dish with foil tightly. I baked it on 250 for about 7 hours. The meat was melt in your mouth good.

Bon Appetit!

Parenting and Gardening

Yesterday was a very quiet day, nothing much to get excited about. Lots going on the with kids, though. Here are the highlights.

I went on Alesia's Facebook profile and saw all the groups and pages she belongs to and got very ticked off. Some of the groups are just idiotic, some contain unsavory content [Rap Battle, marching to legalize marijuana] that I really don't like. As soon as she got home from school I told her she could either get herself out of all the groups and pages I don't like [I made a 2 page list] or completely lose her computer privilege. She chose to get out of the groups, but man was she mad at me.

What amazes me about some parents is they won't cut off a child's computer time when necessary. Computers are a privilege, not a right. My kids will never have computers or TVs in their room because I reserve the right to monitor what they do, for heaven's sakes. If I had a child spending hours on the computer every day, I'd fix it so they couldn't spend more than 1 hour, tops, and I'd get that kid into sports, or music lessons, or SOME kind of endeavor like that.

Despite cutting my hand to ribbons the other day, I had to do some gardening. I couldn't help myself. I found some heavy gardening gloves. I put 9 cucumber seedlings in the long garden bed and 4 yellow zucchini plants. Yay. Even if not all of them survive or produce veggies it is still fun to try. I am so glad we have sunny areas in our yard and not all shade trees like some folks.

Remember I said Michael went to the baseball game the other night? It was really cold and windy. I worried both kids might get a cold. I heard nothing from Sandy's mom, who is sort of a friend/acquaintance of mine. This morning I get an email saying Sandy had a great time and now thinks she knows the rules of baseball and can't stop talking about what a good time she had. All right, Michael.

Michael's teachers are all going easy on the homework right now except for social studies. Yesterday we had to complete a multi-part project that took hours after school. Never thought I'd find myself trying to help my child write a poem about Bolivia or a rap song about the Caribbean, or a flow chart about Europe. Being a parent requires such, um, creativity, sometimes...

I saw this video in an email from Mother and thought whoa, if any of the stores around here get in this technology, I will never see Alesia again...

That's all the news for now...

Michael's First Excursion

It has been a day of yucko things happening, but in the end it was a good day.

First of all, the weather. I kept looking at the calendar thinking, Am I in a time warp?!? Is it really April 27th?! Because it felt like January. It was cold and windy all day, and there was some cold rain late this afternoon. This is Hot-Lanta. It's almost May, for heaven's sakes. Yuck.

Tonight the temperatures are supposed to dip to the 40's.

In just about 10 days, our neighborhood pool opens. Thank goodness it's heated.

As if the creepy weather wasn't bad enough, I was pulling some particularly ugly swordlike plants out from behind my camellia bushes this morning and sliced my right hand open. I didn't realize it until I was holding the hose over my hosta and noticed blood dripping. Icky.

Next, we had muddy brown water in the toilets. I called the county water folks and talked to someone who actually knew something, and he said to "flush out the pipes," and he described that process. So I spent some time running water out of the outside spigots and flushing the toilets, and now, voila, the water is better. Not delightfully filtered, but at least not brown.

I also noticed, in walking around the yard, some places where Michael had missed with the mower. I think I need to get his eyes re-checked.

Michael is playing baseball at a local church, and tonight instead of practice the kids were able to get free tickets to the Georgia v. Georgia Tech baseball game. Michael took his friend "Sandy" [I am not giving her real name for privacy reasons]. Mother kept calling it his "first date" but I said it was simply an excursion [new vocab word! listen up!]. Mother said when we were sitting at the kitchen table with him late this afternoon drilling him on how to act, every time I said excursion Michael winked, like, yeah, it's a date!

He wore two new shirts and new shorts I bought him the other day. He took longer than usual getting dressed, and washed his face. Thanks be to God he didn't splash on too much Axe cologne... [What marketing genius thought up that name, huh?! If I were marketing a cologne to adolescent and teenaged boys I would call it something like Raging Hormones from Hell, but that's just me...]

We wanted to make sure he acted gentlemanly.

Good thing, too, because "Sandy" was cheering for Georgia Tech [cough cough] and we are diehard Dawg fans...

There was some question of whether the game would get rained out, but fortunately it wasn't. Mike said it was cold. He failed to realize the snuggling opportunities at sporting events, but that's probably a good thing.

While Mike and "Sandy" were at the game, I made French toast and sausage for us girls, and we watched the movie 27 Dresses. Totally chick evening. [Note: I used to not like Katherine Heigl, but then she adopted a baby from Korea, and now I like her. I can tolerate the enormous teeth now. The baby has normal teeth, thank God.]

So now it's after 11, and I am ready to put Neosporin on my hand and call it a day...

Simon and the Pentagon

Wow, yesterday was so hectic I completely forgot about blogging and fell into bed last night. I dreamed some wacky stuff.

In my dream, I was somewhere near the Pentagon, and I was having stomach surgery. My friend Kate was the surgeon. Kate is not a surgeon but she said she'd been reading up on it and felt sure she could handle it. Then Simon Cowell showed up. I didn't want him saying mean things about Kate's surgery technique. Alesia was there telling everyone they were crazy.

They say your dreams reflect your subconscious. Mine must be a real funhouse of neuroses.

Yesterday morning started the stress day.

Mother gets her prescriptions via a mail order service [she takes about 6 maintenance prescriptions for blood pressure and asthma] and she told me over the weekend she was out of blood pressure medication. So I had to get on the phone to the doctor, the service, a local pharmacy for an emergency prescription, etc. That killed the entire morning and some of the early afternoon.

Then there was a brief lull before the kids came home. 

Alesia came in and I had a look at her progress report, and had to work hard to control my temper. She is doing OK in everything except she is failing Algebra. We talked about that. She is restricted now to no weekday computer usage after school at all, except for school research. 

I had to get up early and take her to school so she could talk to her Algebra teacher. I also told her she needs to talk to her Chemistry teacher about pulling that C up to a B. She is capable of making a B in there.

Next, Michael was home and I asked him to cut the grass. I have to help him get the mower started, and it's tricky. So I kept having to run outside and do that, while simultaneously trying to cook dinner. I also got my roses fertilized, and the new flowers we planted Sunday. 

It took forever to get Michael started on the grass because he kept wanting to harass his sister. She was harassing him right back, what mother calls "horsing around." Not fighting, but not getting anything useful accomplished either.

I ended up yelling at Michael for wasting time, which I rarely do, but he was getting on my last nerve.

Mother got an allergy attack, bless her heart.

By the time dinner was over I was exhausted and I asked Alesia to clean up. She did, a bit, then started bossing Michael around and telling him he had to help, and I had to intervene.

Next thing I know, I'm having stomach surgery at the Pentagon...

NOTE My mother did an excellent post on her blog - check it out!

Single Moms Unite for the Kids Left Behind

I posted this a couple of places but I wanted to post it here, too.

With all the talk about Russian adoptions recently, as a single mom I have just been upset and distressed beyond imagining. I am a single mom with two beautiful children and although we've had some challenges, I love them both dearly and I cannot imagine my life without them. Now Russia is trying to stop adoptions by single moms. I can't stand by and not try to prevent that.

In the late summer of 2004 I stumbled across a Yahoo group for single moms who have adopted from Russia or who are in the process. I brought my daughter home a few months later, and felt very supported by my fellow moms, even though we only knew each other through cyberspace. Through the years since then, it has grown in membership, and a few members have come and gone, but there is a core group of single moms who post regularly. We are all in a unique situation, being single moms who chose to adopt from Russia, despite many difficulties. Most of us faced not just the normal paperwork headaches and financial challenges, but disapproval from close friends and family members.

Some of us adopted babies, some toddlers, some older kids. Regardless, it's a caring and supportive group. Some of us have met in person, despite being scattered across the USA from Alaska to Florida. We've given each other encouragement, and shared tips on everything from potty training to helping our kids with the fact they don't have dads.

When we saw the news story about the Tennessee mom who sent her son back to Russia we were all shocked and saddened. Some of us have faced pressures like she did, but we didn't give up. We sought out help, and got through it.

We have decided, as a group, to share our stories with the Russian government. Angie, Lindsey, and I are committed to showing that single women in America can adopt from Russia successfully, and our kids are happy and thriving. Russia is threatening to close to singles. Two of our moms are in terrible situations where they may not be able to bring their kids home. Our hearts break for these moms. We want to do everything possible to help.

If you are a single mom who has adopted from Russia, please consider sharing your story with us. Send me your story, 500-1000 words, and a couple of photos, and I will edit it and we will get it translated into Russian. Send it to [email protected].

There are over 700,000 children in Russian orphanages who desperately want mamas. Please help if you can.

   

 

From orphan to beautiful young lady in 5 years...

Baseball, Our Game

The word "baseball" means a lot of different things to me. It's a word that denotes not only a sport, but a way of life. You know the speech James Earl Jones gives about baseball at the end of Field of Dreams?

"The one constant through all the years, Ray, has been baseball. America is ruled by it like an army of steamrollers. It has been erased like a blackboard, rebuilt and erased again. But baseball has marked the time. This field, this game, is a part of our past, Ray. It reminds us of all that once was good, and that could be again. Oh, people will come, Ray. People will come most definitely come."

The first time I ever heard that speech, I sobbed like a baby.

As Michael gets into baseball more and more, lots of feelings long dormant in my brain are coming to the surface. 

I grew up with baseball. As I've mentioned, my grandfather Bob Hasty was a baseball player. He started playing seriously when he went in the army during World War I. He never got shipped overseas, because the guys in camp realized he was an awesome baseball player and wanted him to stay and win games - that's the story, at least. All I know is, right after the war he was signed by the Atlanta Crackers, and he started making news.  He was signed shortly afterward to play for the Philadelphia Athletics, and he pitched for them for 5 years. He told my mother, the first major league baseball game he ever saw, he played in. He was supposed to be a farmer, but his massive strength, size, and intelligence, made him an awesome baseball player. He played for more than twenty years, although only 5 were in the majors. 

When I was in my 20's I started learning everything I could about Papaw's career, and I learned a lot about baseball history. I found two baseball cards with his likeness. I spent a lot of time talking to my mother and my uncles about baseball and Papaw. I needed to understand.

I grew up going to Braves games at Fulton County Stadium. I remember going to two Old Timer's Day games and seeing my grandfather honored on the field. I still have those programs. I saw him only once in his baseball uniform. It was a magical day.

Watching a baseball game at my grandparents house was fun and scary at the same time. You didn't talk or make noise. You sat quietly and watched. It was like church.

My grandmother was as big a baseball fan as Papaw. She had traveled with him when he played for the A's, and used to keep records of all the players on the other teams, and what they did. For instance, she knew if Papaw threw a fastball at a certain player he would always hit it, or another player might always hit a high curve, things like that. They would analyze what happened after each game. That was the 1920's - long before modern day stats and videos.

Mamaw knew baseball. I remember as a kid being awed by the fact that she would call a play before the umpire, and she was always right. The runner might look safe at first base, but Mamaw would say "Nope, he's OUT." He would get called out. If the umpire made a mistake - that is to say didn't call the same thing she did - she was outraged. That was before the instant replay. After instant replay, she was always vindicated by the replay.

Baseball is a game of the mind and the heart, as much as the body. It's a game of strategy. You watch the interplay between the catcher and the pitcher, and it seems like a lull, but it's not. It's a carefully choreographed dance. Then the THWOCK of ball hitting bat, and it becomes electrifying. No other sport can compare.

My grandfather loved the game. After he left Philadelphia he continued to play in the minor leagues for almost 10 more years, until just before my mother was born. It was hard on Mamaw, with two little boys, and I'm sure she often felt like a single parent. Road trips meant Papaw was gone a lot. He didn't make much money, either. In the 1930's, he played for different companies and was given a token job of some kind, but his real job was to manage the baseball team, and play. Companies were serious about their sports. I think up north basketball was big, but in the south it was baseball.

My grandfather didn't leave major league baseball willingly. He left because he was accused of being in the Ku Klux Klan and beating a woman. It wasn't true. It was absurd. He was vocally outspoken against the Klan, and was well-known around Marietta and Acworth as a straight arrow. He didn't drink or smoke. He didn't cuss. He ignored the legions of prostitutes Mamaw would said would meet the trains when the baseball teams got into town. However, someone accused him of a horrible crime, and although the charges were eventually dropped for lack of evidence, the damage was done. Connie Mack, who was Catholic, decided the accusation was probably true, and benched Papaw for almost an entire season before selling his contract to a minor league team out in Oregon. In those days, players were pawns. They didn't have agents negotiating fat salaries. He had to go to Oregon and play out his contract. In the 1920's there was no major league baseball west of the Mississippi. Connie Mack's name was always spoken with great loathing in my grandparents' house, but I never learned why until I grew up and started asking questions. 

I wrote a screenplay called Season of Ashes, based on the story. I am not much of a screenwriter but it's a great story. It's also a love story. My grandmother went from being the daughter of a rich man, a pampered debutante married to the local celebrity, to living in boardinghouses out west for several years, scrounging for money and far from home. Even after he came back east and got a place on the Birmingham Barons team, there was no money. There was, however, baseball, a game both my grandparents loved. 

Every time I go to Michael's practices, I feel sad, for a lot of reasons.

I feel sad because I feel keenly the fact that I am a single mom. Baseball is a place for daddies and sons. The dads are everywhere. They are clearly pleased and proud of their boys. 

I feel sad because Michael has to work a bit harder than the other boys, since he has only the one hand.

I feel sad because I didn't get him involved in baseball earlier. I don't know if there's any chance of him playing on another team, with his lack of experience and at his age, 13. He turns 14 this summer.

I feel sad because I remember the fact my uncles and the other men in our family always felt the shadow of Papaw looming behind them when they played ball. My uncle Bobby Hasty Jr. was a great baseball player and played a lot in the 1950's on company teams and even started to play minor league ball before quitting. Everywhere he went, reporters dogged him about being Bob Hasty's son. The pressure was intense.

Papaw had three grandsons. My cousin Robert, Bobby's son, is mentally challenged. My cousin Bill - I don't know if he ever played baseball or how he felt about it. They lived far away, in Chicago, most of those years. My brother played little league just for a short time, but I think he always knew he would never be the player Papaw was, and felt it was too much pressure, and quit.

Michael is free from the family expectations. Both my grandparents are dead. He is the great-grandson of a magnificent baseball player. He is also a descendant of Kazakhs and Russians, who were fierce warriors on the steppes of Russia and Northern Asia. When I look at Michael and see the love in his eyes for the game, I am sad a little bit but I am also so proud. For Michael, there is only the love of the game, the ability to play and be part of something uniquely American, and uniquely ours.

 

My Award-Winning Children

I feel like I have been running a marathon all day. I'm glad I got it done today though. Tomorrow it's supposed to be 85! That's hot, even for Hot-Lanta.

I picked up Alesia at school this morning because she had a doctor's appointment. She has had a sore throat and some UTI issues for about a week, and really not felt well.

She came buzzing into the attendance office waving an envelope excitedly. Turned out there had been an honors assembly for the juniors and seniors, and she got two certificates, one for community service and one for attendance. She was beyond excited. It was so cute.

Mother reminded me tonight at dinner when I was a senior in high school I won some award. I have no memory of it. I was never into awards. I was really busy my senior year, working and doing plays, and life was very complicated then.

Dr. V, who treats me, Mother, and Alesia, was so cute with her. She is very motherly, and yet very Russian. She is the antithesis of some stereotypical cold Russian, or even a stern babushka. She pats Alesia, exclaims over how pretty she is, exclaimed over photos of Michael. It was adorable. She is a tiny lady with a lot of energy. In a few years I hope she will still be practicing and we can take Michael to her.

Alesia ate it up. She has been felling so yucko, but today she was walking on a cloud. A little positive feedback goes a long way with her, which is a beautiful thing.

I had a job interview at 3. I don't want to jinx it, but I thought it went well. Sounds like an interesting job. There will be another round of interviews in a week or two. Pray....

Now for the big BASEBALL news. Michael's team played tonight, and lost, 12-2. I think the outfielders were all asleep. Michael fought valiantly at first base, but the hits just kept on coming. However, when he got up to bat, he hit a beautiful line drive, then the second time he hit a gorgeous pop fly, which unfortunately was caught by the other team. The last inning, he got to pitch. He was grabbing the ball and throwing runners out right and left. His coach was watching, and after the game, he got the GAME BALL!! He was not as excited as Alesia, but I was very proud and excited. He is such a great little player, and he loves the sport. Mother told him his great-grandfather would be proud, because Michael takes after him, and biology doesn't matter at all.

Michael is a great player, BTW, not just a great handicapped player. He really pays attention and his reflexes are lightning quick. I'm not just saying that as a mama, either - parents all over the stands were remarking on his skills.

I am a very proud mama tonight...

Blessing the Dead

It was a very quiet day and I need to get my sleep for tomorrow so this is just a quick update. 

The other night at dinner Mother asked Alesia to say the blessing. Alesia has been trying to not say the little blessing Mother taught her when she first came home - Bless this food to the nourishment of our bodies and us to thy service. So Alesia started off "Lord, thanks for the food... and, uh, bless all the dead people [giggle giggle] and oh yeah - the LIVING ones too! Thanks!"

It was very hard not to laugh.

We don't normally bless dead people. We figure they are beyond our help by that point. She has a new friend who is Catholic so I'm guessing that's the source of that idea, but I don't know. I didn't want to make a big deal out of it.

My car's check engine light has been on for a few days and so I took it to the Chevron. They called me and said something about a thermostat needing fixing and mentioned some radiator hose thingy -- all I heard was blah blah blah it will be around $400. That's always the way it is - no matter what is wrong it's a minimum of $400. It's an old car and I don't have to make a payment, so I shouldn't kvetch, but yikes. I just had to buy a new fridge, and now the car. I hope Alesia will inherit the car after me, so I want to keep it maintained.

Michael suggested my next car should be either a Mustang or a minivan with a movie screen. I told him it all depends on my job situation.

Remember I said I was trying to start all my veggies in jiffy pots, with organic seeds?! Well, some of the seeds are sprouting - the cukes, and some swiss chard. I am very excited about those tiny sprouts! However, I never found yellow crookneck squash seeds. Today when I was buying tomatoes at Sherry's produce stand I found squash seedlings for $1! I was beyond excited. I was like a little kid. As soon as I got home they went into the nice long side garden bed. I am praying they won't die - in the other bed they always have died in past years, after blooming and getting my hopes up.

The thing I will miss most about going back to work will be having time in the garden.

It will be a whole lot easier to pay off the bills, though...

Laughing Is Better Than Screaming

It has been a stressful day. I just knocked my stress level down considerably by laughing at this video of comedian/actor Kevin Pollak doing impressions. I especially loved his bit about Christopher Walken.

When I am really tense I Iook on YouTube for videos of my favorite comedians and play the videos. Sometimes non-comedians make me laugh hard, like this one of Christopher Walken reading the lyrics to Lagy Gaga's song "Poker Face." I dare you not to laugh at that.

[If you've ever heard "Poker Face" you will laugh harder, because it sounds like it was written by hormonal chipmunks on a cocaine binge. I listened to it on Alesia's MP3 one day, because she asked me to and I was too dense to invent an excuse not to hear it.]

Another favorite comedian of mine is Ron White, the guy who smokes a cigar and drinks scotch during his act. The first time I ever saw him, on the Blue Collar Comedy thing Jeff Foxworthy did a few years ago, I laughed so hard I almost wet my pants. Good thing I didn't because I was with my boyfriend.

If you want to hear a sample of Ron's humor click on this - it's not as rude and crude as some of his stuff. 

I used to really like Jeff Foxworthy. The redneck jokes hit a little close to home though - I am part redneck on my daddy's side. I used to not ever say that, but now I just sort of shrug and own up to it, because most all the people on Dad's side of the family ignore my blog so I can pretty much say what I like...

I wasn't really stressed out today until Alesia started the PMS talk right before dinner. She has a way of getting on my last nerve and stomping on it. I try not to lose my temper. I finally just yelled GO TO YOUR ROOM! - a phrase that saved my life countless times when I was a kid.

A short time later I was in Mother's room and Michael was watching the Braves game and Alesia flounced in and said "I am going to kiss YOU goodnight, Granny!" - and ignore you, Meanest Mom of All Time.

Anyway, if you are stressed out, I urge you to get on YouTube and watch funny videos. It may save your life.

One great thing happened today. We had a gentle rain falling off and on all day, and that was awesome for my plants. Then it rained hard and I didn't have to take Michael to baseball practice.

Thanks rain!

One sorta good thing happened - before Alesia got home - I got another job interview. Then I looked at the website for these folks and only one thought came to mind - I HOPE they don't require women to wear pantyhose. I don't do pantyhose any more.

I try to avoid the political here but I will state this, FOR THE RECORD: I would vote for any man, woman or monkey running for office who promised to abolish pantyhose..

Domestic Day

As if yesterday's employment ads weren't weird enough, I saw one today for an assistant that was willing to do yard work as well as office work. I am not making this up.

I have seen a number of ads which say they want to see a photo along with a resume. I've been tempted to answer those with a photo of Miss Piggy or Maxine.

I didn't do a lot today but stay home and be domestic, in between bouts of scouring the want ads. I send off between 1 and 3 resumes every day. Even though I've had good interviews recently I can't assume I'll get any of those jobs.

I spent some time in the garden today, weeding and planting flower seeds. I was encouraged that I am seeing some sprouts in my seed pots. My side garden I call The Melon Patch got some soil nourishment in the form of bone meal and there are about 5 plants in there which are volunteers of some kind. I dumped a fair amount of compost and buried it this past winter. Could be cucumbers or melons, I am thinking. It's always fun to see volunteer plants appearing out of the earth, hearty and wanting to grow.

The rest of the post is about cooking and eating meat. If you're vegetarian you will want to skip it. Have a nice day!

I fixed a good dinner tonight, a very southern dinner. I made country fried steak [cubed beef with gravy], bisquits [Pillsbury frozen but they're as good as homemade] and Eggroll Cabbage. I also made mother's fruit salad, which is much loved around here.

I tried something a little different with the Country Fried steak - I put it in the crock pot to finish cooking. First, I took my pieces of beef, and salted and peppered both sides, and let them sit on a paper towel for about 30 minutes. Most cooks don't put enough salt on their meat and that's why it's tough and not flavorful. After that, I dredged each piece in flour and browned it in some olive oil. I pulled it out of the skillet and threw it into the crock pot. I then took two cans of Campbell's cream of mushroom soup and put it in the skillet, scraping up the browned bits and flour. I added soy sauce, sherry, lots of onion powder, black pepper, and a big dollop of butter. I poured that over the meat, set the crock pot on low, and let it sit for 5 hours. It was fork-tender and delicious.

I made the Eggroll Cabbage a bit differently. I used some bacon grease and browned onions in it. Then I threw in the cabbage, seasonings, and soy sauce. Alesia asked if it had bacon grease and I said yes. She said her cooking teacher told her bacon grease was unhealthy. I sighed. I explained that if you ate half a lb. of bacon every day and had high cholesterol then yes, it would be quite unhealthy. I eat it maybe once a month in a small amount, and I have normal cholesterol. So does Mother, and she eats bacon every day. Alesia rarely eats bacon. It irritates me when I have to counteract the stuff the teachers at school tell the kids about foods. Almost any food is unhealthy if you eat too much of it.

Eating a high fat diet is not necessarily going to lead to an early death unless you are genetically predisposed to high cholesterol and heart disease, IMHO. We always have normal cholesterol. If any of us was diagnosed with high cholesterol or heart disease, then of course I'd change my ways, a bit. I already cook with olive oil 98% of the time and we rarely eat really fatty meats.

Recently, Alesia hasn't wanted to eat beef. I've told her we are a beef-eating family and I expect her to eat with us. If she really fussed about it I'd invite her to make her own peanut butter and jelly sandwich, or turkey or whatever. Here again, I have to try and convince my own daughter that not everything she hears from a teacher is the gospel.

I've also told both my kids when they leave my house they can eat however they want to eat, but I am going to tell them my thoughts about food and good nutrition, and cook what we like. Neither of my kids is bad about eating a lot of junk.

I had another mother tell me the other day her boys were really excited because they were getting Tyson chicken patties for dinner. Huh?! My kids would not eat those things. Ditto for most frozen foods. I am one of the few mothers I know that fixes a good meal at least 4-5 nights a week. Sure, we usually do sandwiches from Jersey Mike's on Fridays, and sometimes Saturday we have Alesia's hockey puck pancakes, but we eat very well most of the time.

Everything in moderation, is a good philosophy.

Below is Michael and his friend Colton, and my friend Gary and his dad. Gary took them to the Braves game yesterday and they had a wonderful time. Michael had never seen a baseball game all the way through.