Monkey Bars

Back at the office! After being sick last week, it actually feels kind of nice to be back here and to have my projects to work on again. Although, I did come in early this morning only to be bombarded about a server crash that took place Friday afternoon and no one bothered to deal with until I got back.

Shortly after getting myself settled into the office I realized that I had left my lunch at home along with all of my snacky foods and my tummy was rumbling! I headed over to Firewheel Books and Beans thinking I’d just grab a bagel but they had these irresistible (both for the packaging and for the description) little oatmeal bowls. The one called “Monkey Bars” caught my eye because it had mini chocolate chips, coconut and peanut butter in the cup!

I’ve read on plenty of other blogs all the fun things people do with their oatmeal in the morning, but the most exciting thing I’ve ever done is a packet of Peach instant oatmeal - I know, I know - thrill seeker! The oatmeal was delicious! However, at the whopping price of $2.95, I don’t see myself being a repeat, let alone regular, purchaser. I do however, plan on buying some plain oatmeal and some mini chocolate chips (I have coconut and PB) so I can make this concoction on my own.

My day at the office was spent crunching numbers and running billing reports. Surprisingly, this is one of my favorite aspects of my job - it was my favorite thing about Starbucks to. I love to know the bottom line and how to improve it.

For dinner, Mack and I prepared Salmon with two sides: Mashed Potatoes and Beets. While we were preparing the beets, Mack kept telling me how much he liked them “I like the color, I like the smell…” Etc. When it came time to eat them however, he was less than thrilled. I did manage to have him eat a few bites and, as always, he had no problem about eating a ton of salmon.
For a post dinner treat, we each enjoyed an oversized tootsie-roll (does anyone else find it ridiculous how many different shapes and sizes tootsie rolls come in? mini, long and skinny, those fat short ones, the really thing square ones, the really thick and really long ones…. Why, tootsie company? Why?)

Let's Go Fly a Kite

Sunday was a lazy bum kind of day and it felt like FOREVER. Not in the same sense that a workday can feel like FOREVER, but this Sunday seemed to have a particular lingering quality that was absolutely welcomed. For starters, we slept in (Saturday we were up and at it by 6:30). We spent the better part of the morning cleaning the house. I’m loving that Mackenzie is at an age where household chores are a joyous occasion. When I got out the vacuum, he was ecstatic and wanted to vacuum everything himself. Have at it my friend! While I did a fairly good job of keeping the house clutter-free while Nick was gone, I do always LOVE when the floor is swept and the carpets are vacuumed - something about that just puts my soul at a whole other level of calm. I think that is the OCD part of me that is buried by the full-time working mother of a toddler that overpowers any OCD that may be lurking deep down. Once the kitchen was all the way clean it was time to….. mess it up! Easter Eggs! Mack is at the perfect age for things like this - there’s this sense of wonder, shock, amazement that surrounds putting a tablet (or, as Mack called it, a vitamin) into water and having it turn into a color - then putting a white egg into that color and having the egg become yellow! Or green! Or pink! The world is so much more exciting if you stop for a second and just notice it. (Side note: I’ve decided that this is what is meant in the Biblical parables when we are told to be childlike - just think how much better life would be if we all actually took the time to let the little details bring excitement still) Anyway, back to egg decorating! Mack ended up eating two hard boiled eggs after this. Hint: protein for kids = colored eggs! Who knew! After nap time, Mack ran out into the yard and made me this: Then we went up to the beach house for a little kite flying action.

My mom bought Mackenzie a great little kite while she was in California last week.

And in case you were wondering, MegaMind was fabulous! So fabulous, that we actually brought the movie with us and watched it again with Nick’s parents who also loved it. I laughed the entire time.

I also made a second Ukranian egg while we were there. My mom eventually stopped by and she got to try her hand at making the eggs too. We have all decided that the quiet concentration necessary to do this little project is very therapeutic. I’ll be sure to post pics when I get my completed eggs back (they still need to be blown out, polished and then varnished.

And just like that, the weekend comes to a close. Nick and I are going to watch a couple episodes of our show while he unpacks/packs for the next trip.

Ci vediamo!

Market Woes

Nick’s home! While my greeting of Nick was less than stellar (he arrived home after midnight and I was coughing up my lungs and in complete night sweat mode = sexy!), by the time morning arrived the world was looking a little brighter. Mackenzie came running into our room bright and early. As soon as he saw daddy he went running for the other side of the bed. Even if it’s way earlier than Nick may have wanted, it has to be nice to know he was so greatly missed. After lounging around in bed, having waffles (of course!) and taking our time to get ready for the day, we decided to head out to Pike Place Market. Nick and I both figured that it would be fun since Mack had such a great time last weekend and because my mom was at our house and we’d all get to go and have a good time. Mack was super excited about going to the market until we actually got there. As we parked the truck Mack told me he didn’t want to see the robot man from when we were down at the market with my dad. I had to guarantee him that the robot man was off duty today. Then, he was a grump about every little detail. If I said something smelled good, he’d let me know otherwise. If I said I was hungry, he’d tell me he wasn’t. If he wanted something and I went to buy it, he then didn’t want it. Tough to put up with that. I thought perhaps changing things up a bit might get him out of his funk. We headed down the steep steps to the waterfront in hopes of riding the carousel.

The robot man is a lamp! Seriously, the guy we saw dressed as a robot looked exactly like this. In all my times being at the market, I've never seen that robot guy, nor have I noticed that there are several lamps with his likeness holding up light bulbs.

The carousel managed to get a few smiles out of him. But even that was short lived. We did sneak in a quick trip to Egypt though! Ha! In spite of Mackenzie, us grown ups did enjoy our time - Nick got his favorite sandwich (Sierra Chicken) from Michou and I got a gyro from Sabra’s. I also managed to grab some gorgeous tulips before Mack had a complete breakdown and it was time to head home.

Back at home, the little guy got some much needed rest while mom and dad did a little lounging around ourselves. When Mack woke up he was back to his fun self and we headed off to Lowe’s for some gardening supplies and QFC for some Easter egg supplies. We also nabbed MegaMind from the RedBox. In our seed starter, we planted Heirloom Tomatoes, Grape Tomatoes, Assorted Bell Peppers, Autumn Sunflowers, Parsley and [something I’m forgetting - oops!]. This is the third year now that Mack has grown tomatoes. The first year, he did it was Grandma Criss and we had tomatoes galore. Last year, Mack and I did it together and being the green thumb that I am, we ended up with maybe 8 tomatoes about five months later. I’m hoping that we have a better turn out this year! I’ve been reading up on how to grow them and I think the biggest problem last year was the lack of bees. I actually ended up going around rubbing pollen on my fingers and spreading it from plant to plant, then we got a few blooms which became tomatoes. The good news is that we’re not farmers and our planting project is merely a source of fun rather than a necessary food source.

Movie time!

SuperNanny

After sleeping most of the day Thursday (Gary picked up Mackenzie from school!), I was feeling like such a bum and just wanted to be “better” and get out of the house. Since Thursday is my prenatal yoga class, I was thinking “no big deal, I’ll just go to class and it’ll probably even make me feel better.”

As I was leaving, Mack and Gary were getting back from preschool. When he walked in, Mack told me our house smelt funny. Hey soup! I had turned my soup from Wednesday night back on in the crock pot and it had been simmering all day long. Apparently an entire head of cauliflower and two heads of broccoli makes a bad smell. Ha!

Once I drove down to the class and parked my car, I realized just how much my body did NOT want to be there. I also realized that exposing a room full of pregnant women to whatever unknown illness I had was probably not the most thoughtful choice I could make. Back to the house I went.

When I got home, Mack was super tired/lethargic. His show was just finishing up and I held him while we danced the “hot dog dance.” I could tell he just wasn’t up for much and I asked if he wanted to go to bed. When a three year old tells you yes, he does want to go to bed and it’s only 6:30 - something is up. I took his temperature - 102 degrees! And mine - 94.7 degrees! We both got our fair dosage of Tylenol and it was off to bed for the both of us.

Poor guy was up several times during the night, not really awake but sort of crying/upset in his sleep. Between him waking up and myself waking up with night sweats and the whole blow your nose, try to breath routine, I got very little sleep.

By the time the alarm rang Friday morning, I just dismissed it - sent an email to my boss (thank god for smart phones and not having to so much as get out of bed to send an email!) and wrote off the rest of the day. Luckily, little kids are pretty resilient. Mack woke up feeling chipper and back to his usual self.

He is so sweet. Crawled into bed with me and we watched a couple cartoons - once again, he brought me cereal in bed - and we hung out together until he was pretty much over the whole idea. I eventually called Gary and asked him to come get Mack so that A) Mack wasn’t bored out of his mind / being babysat by the TV and B) I could go back to sleep. I did manage to take a shower but that’s the most energy I could muster up.

Back to bed and I watched a marathon of SuperNanny episodes. Boy, am I thankful for Nick and for our support web of family! Some of the husbands on that show are just plain useless when it comes to being dads. And, there was a grandma that didn’t like her grandkids coming over because “they got their sticky hands on everything and were always going through her things” - um, she had NO toys for the kids at her house, so I wonder why they’d go through all of her things.

Just goes to show, I’ve got lots to be thankful for. Each and every one of Mack’s grandparents and great-grandparents has been nothing but supportive, loving and embracing of Mackenzie - even when he’s broken things and been less than cute (which never happens ;) ) Beyond that, have you seen how great of a dad Nick is?! Kids at the park flock to that man, everywhere we go he’s making new little kid friends - I’m positive that all those boys wish that Nick was their dad. Speaking of Nick: he gets in late, late tonight and I’m hoping to feel well enough to not bore him to death this weekend!

A Little Princess

So much for that soup getting me through the day. After being at work for a little short of an hour, I was beyond my capacity for the day. I headed home and popped in this movie: One of my favorite movies when I was little, this is always a great sick day treat. I also enjoyed several bowls of Kashi Strawberry Fields. When we were at the grocery store last night, Mack spied this box on the end cap of one of the aisles. Since this is my favorite cereal I was willing to fork over the extra cash for it. The little voice beside me saying, “I love this cereal mom, you love this cereal too!” didn’t hurt either :) I'm hoping I get some sleep!

Rainy Day Lunch Getaway

Day two of no sleep. I may have been unaffected yesterday, but I am definitely feeling it today. All I want is warmth, something warm to drink and comfort food. For lunch today, there was no way I was going to the gym in the pouring rain - much less with how my body was beginning to feel. There are times when you’re tired and a good workout is all you need to get amped back up. Today was not that kind of day. I was beyond the levels of pulling myself back with a mere endorphin rush. I decided to sneak out of the office for the only thing that sounded good to me. Chili and a baked potato from Wendy’s. Think what you will, this sounded like the perfect cozy time meal. Because there were meetings going on in the office all day I knew I didn’t want to be eating my lunch in the office but I also didn’t want to spend an hour sitting inside of a Wendy’s either. I opted for a short drive down to the marina and ate my lunch in the car (it was pouring down rain) while enjoying the blue herons and the trains coming and going. Even on a bleak and dreary day, there is something refreshing about being by the water. After work, I picked up Mack and we headed to the grocery store for all the fixens to make homemade chicken vegetable soup. I knew that making the soup would take way too long to actually eat it for dinner so we also snagged a frozen thin crust pizza. I let Mack choose = cheese pizza, big surprise here, right? Mack really likes working in the kitchen with us and because we rarely buy frozen pizza, Mack was really confused by how little there was to do. After it was all said and done, he told me that because dad was gone, he would need to “roller” the pizza (aka use the pizza cutter) for me because that was a boy job. He’s already standing in as the man of the house :) Look at all those veggies! I’m hoping this soup will get me through Thursday!

The First of the Last 10 Weeks

After a great start to the week on Monday, Tuesday was a little pathetic. I am such a pansy when Nick is out of town. I like to think that I’m really independent and can do just about everything on my own. My circadian rhythm knows the truth! I can’t sleep a wink when Nick is gone. Monday I went to bed feeling tired from a productive day both at work and at home but I woke up shortly after midnight and was unable to get myself back to sleep the rest of the night. I hate restless nights - “should I get up and do something? I’m wide awake, I could clean! No, I should try to sleep” - two hours later - “Seriously? I should do something. Read? Watch tv?” - and so it continued up until my alarm went off, not so much waking me up as it was signaling the end to the possibility of sleep. Surprisingly, I made it through the day with little consequence. I do have to say, that for how much I’ve looked forward to starting Italian again, our first class was pretty lame. We have a new student (she took the first two quarters more than a year ago) and my professor spent the entire two hours of our class showing her how to use the website and online classroom. Less than awesome. However, I am looking forward to the group that’s taking the class. It ended up being all girls, but a very diverse and interesting group we are! I have one woman who is a teacher in Snohomishl her daughter is currently living in Italy teaching English as part of her Master’s program internship. We have another girl, who is a little younger than me, who is from France and speaks about five languages. We also have two girls that are college aged. The new lady is middle-aged and I guess the reason for the delay in her taking the class until now was…..she had a baby! Then there’s me! For there only being six people in the class, that’s quite the spectrum! I suppose that’s community college for ya. Here’s hoping the next class is more exciting