Saturday, June 19, 2010

Toddlers, Frat Boys, they're all the same thing...

Okay, a friend on FB recently posted this link and it was so hilarious that I had to share it!  The comments are almost as funny as the post itself, but here's the original Top Ten reasons why having a toddler is like being at a frat party, from SuburbanSnaphots.com:

10. There are half-full, brightly-colored plastic cups on the floor in every room. Three are in the bathtub.

9. There's always that one girl, bawling her eyes out in a corner.

8. It's best not to assume that the person closest to you has any control over their digestive function.

7. You sneak off to the bathroom knowing that as soon as you sit down, someone's going to start banging on the door.

6. Probably 80% of the stains on the furniture contain DNA.

5. You've got someone in your face at 3 a.m. looking for a drink.

4. There's definitely going to be a fight.

3. You're not sure whether anything you're doing is right, you just hope it won't get you arrested.

2. There are crumpled-up underpants everywhere.

1. You wake up wondering exactly how and when the person in bed with you got there.

Wednesday, June 16, 2010

baby crib thankfulness

So a while back, we got this crib on freecycle - it's in decent shape, and it converts from crib to toddler bed to queen-size headboard. Unfortunately, it was missing some hardware:-( Though it has everything it needs for the toddler bed version, it's missing some vital pieces for the drop-down side, which means that it's not usable as a crib.  You can see it here, with the side simply leaning against it (and a super-cute blanket hanging on the back, compliments of my niece B3).

It's an older version, not sold in stores anymore, and the manufacturer is not within the US. Nevertheless, we can order the parts from them for a fairly reasonable price. We've been hesitant to do that, though. I hate to order from a company that I know nothing about, and that does not have online ordering access - we have to send the info about the crib, a copy of all our email exchanges, and a money order to them, then they'll send us the parts and manual. Since the tag with the model number is partially torn off, it's not even clear they will know what model to send parts for, and I guess I have just sort of viewed the whole thing as a recipe for disaster.

Since our agency does not allow foster children to sleep in portable cribs for more than a week or two, using the pack-n-play for an extended period is also not possible. So I've been trolling on CraigsList and - yay! - got lucky last night. A local woman with an in-home daycare was updating some things, and recycling her old stuff to homes that need them - she was very specific about not wanting re-sellers. I emailed her, explained our imminent foster parent status, and she was happy to give us the crib, which she says includes all hardware and is in excellent condition! I get to pick it up this morning - I want to rush right home and construct it, but I will restrain myself, go to work, meet and have dinner with some of my practicum students, and then finally get home, probably too late to put it together:-( But once I do that, I'll be freecycling the first crib, and hoping to bless someone with an older toddler in need of a bed.

Sunday, June 13, 2010

Menu planning

One area that P-daddy and I do not excel in is planning menus. We both eat pretty simply, and he in particular is happy to grab some fruit and veggies and make a meal of it. I'm much more of a carb-a-holic, so I need bread, rice, etc., so we've been attempting to find meals that cover both our preferences. This week, we decided to try our hand at menu-planning and see how it goes. Luckily, one of my favorite blogs talked today about just that topic, and even posted some hints and handy-dandy meal planning sheets. So we hope we are off to a good start, though we are not sure how it will turn out due to several issues.

One issue is that we don't always have a ton of variety - especially for breakfast. Both of us would happily eat steel cut oats with fruit pretty much every day, and while we have not yet embarked on once-a-month cooking, we do often cook large portions of things and eat them throughout the week. Plus, we freeze part of that for later use. This week, we are relying on some of these frozen items that we want to clean out of our freezer: black beans that we made in the crockpot, and carrot-potato stew, also from the crockpot. Plus, P-daddy made a delicious frittata today, with caramelized onions, and it smells and tastes delicious!

The other issue is my schedule - I'm teaching a summer-school class from 2-6pm 2 days a week, and even if I eat a healthy lunch before going to class, I'm still starved by the time class ends, as well as so wiped out that there's no way I want to cook (or even prepare) anything when I get home. So we are experimenting with pre-made sandwiches, which I can take to school with me and then eat before leaving campus. So our Tues/Thurs dinners might not look too dinnerish...

But here's the plan:

Monday
B: steel cut oats (hereafter and forever referred to as SCO) w/ apples, peaches, and banana
L: frittata, mushrooms, tomato, bread (home-baked by P-daddy, or sandwich thins)
D: potato and carrot dumplings, broccoli
S: yogurt, apples, cucumbers

Tuesday
B: eggs, beans, and tortillas
L: leftover dumplings and broccoli
D: BLT sandwiches, boiled eggs, carrot sticks
S: yogurt, plums, celery

Wednesday
B: SCO w/ apples, peaches, and banana
L: frittata, tomato, bread (home-baked by P-daddy, or sandwich thins)
D: brown rice, kashmir spinach, cauliflower
S: yogurt, apples, squash sticks

Thursday
B: eggs, beans, and tortillas
L: leftover rice, spinach, and cauliflower
D: BLT sandwiches (or PB&J), boiled eggs, carrot sticks
S: yogurt, oranges, squash sticks

Friday
B: SCO w/ banana (and blueberries if we make it to the store)
L: Morning Star Farms (MSF) spicy black bean burgers w/ (avocado if we make it to the store), mixed veggies
D: eat out (or order in)
S: yogurt, apples, bananas, green peppers

Saturday
B: French toast w/ fruit
L: PB&J sandwiches, carrot sticks, potato rounds
D: southwestern salad (lettuce, black beans, corn, red onion, avocado)
S: yogurt, apples, oranges, peppers

Sunday
B: toast w/ apple butter
L: taco salad
D: bao buns w/ pulled pork
S: yogurt, oranges, carrots

I'll let you know how it goes!
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