Back to School

Yesterday marked the first day of school for most kids. My son began a new classroom at his daycare and I began taking a class towards a masters in healthcare administration. Feels good to learn again.

In making dinner last night, I learned that I really do have some cooking skills. I was able to come up with a healthy dinner, cook it and serve it within 20 minutes - all while chasing a toddler and trying to entertain my sister-in-law and her friend.

Vanessa's Quick Chicken and Watercress Dinner

Ingredients:
1 pkg of chicken cutlets (usually 4 in a pkg)
1 cup flour
2 eggs
splash of milk
bag of watercress
2 Tbsp. dijon mustard
vinegar
oil
2 garlic cloves pressed (optional)
white wine (optional)
lemon juice
cucumber (optional)

Directions:

1. Defrost chicken.
2. While the chicken defrosts, in a small bowl mix dijon mustard, pressed garlic cloves, splash of oil and splash of vinegar. Wisk together.
3. Cut open bag of watercress and put in bowl.
4. Beat two eggs and a splash of milk in a pie pan.
5. Put flour in another pie pan. Season with salt/pepper or however you wish.
6. Heat a large pan on med. high heat with canola oil (it won't smoke like olive oil)
7. Dredge chicken in eggs, then flour.
8. Place all four pieces of chicken in pan and cook for about 2-3 minutes on each side.
9. Cut cucumber for salad and put in bowl with watercress.
10. Pour in about a 1/2 up of lemon juice in pan with the chicken.
11. Pour in wine too. Just eyeball it. Probably about 1/2 cup or so.
12. Let it cook off and it's ready.
13. Mix the dijon dressing you made in steps #1 and #2 into the watercress salad. Mix well.

Serves 3-4 people.

Enjoy!!

Important Lessons

Ok, so one of the biggest struggles of a working mom is how to balace work life and home life. You want to be the best you can be in your career, and then switch to being the best mom you can be. It's not easy, but I've learned two very important lessons:
1) You can't expect everything to go as planned
2) Roll with the punches

Once you got that all figured out, it all becomes a lesson in time management. Modern technology is great, but I find that writing down all appointments/activities/errands in one master calendar (I keep on my desk), I can plan my time accordingly. This means, planning every day, from when to grocery shop to hair appointments. BUT, if you refer to lesson #1, you must remember to be flexible.

For example, I had every intention of grocery shopping yesterday, but when I picked up Ben, he wasn't in the best mood. So -- I improvised and figured I would go today. You can't wait until you are out of everything to make your plans, or you can be in big trouble, but refer to lesson #2. As I was preparing to defrost dinner, I realized we didn't have what we had planned on eating. Of course! So, I refer again to lesson #1 and find something else. Pork chops in the oven (shake n' baked with some sort of seasoning). As those baked in the oven I made onion rings in the toaster oven and mashed potatoes in the microwave. Dinner was ready in 25 minutes -- I really can give Rachael Ray a run for her money-- and I have modern conveniences to thank.

What would we do without microwaves and such? Well, back in those days, women didn't work.
Today's blog is tributed to: Dr. Percy Spencer - inventor of the microwave
THANK YOU!

T.G.I.F.

Wow. Am I glad this week is over. I don't know why. It wasn't extremely hectic, nor was it strange. It just is what it is. This weekend we are heading down to visit our families. Now, most people would think that it's a great think that my folks and my in-laws live so close together. In my opinion, it's a blessing and a curse.

The blessing part is that they are indeed close together so we can see them all at once and not have to make two separate trips. The curse is trying to divide time equally (which just by the nature of things, never really is equal) among families. It's really stressful trying to make everyone happy. We try hard, but just short of moving in or at least moving next door - it's just not gonna happen.

When you have a toddler, and you are away from home, things all get changed. Change is good. But, not for a toddler. They thrive on routine and repetition. Since our toddler has sleep issues when we are away, we tend to shy away from too much traveling in general. Not because we don't want to see people or do things... just for the pure purpose of keeping everyone on track and avoiding weeks of working back to the way things were. Napping is especially hard because of all the excitement and activity. Last thing you want is a super cranky toddler, tired parents and frustrated grandparents. But, as he grows older, we know the importance of adapting to change every once in a while. Evolution is what has made us the most intelligent mammal in existence (or has it?).

I think someone told me: "The only thing constant in life is change." I know this to be true and it keeps me on my toes. And with a toddler, that's EXACTLY where I need to be.

Just Another Manic Monday

So, I had the weirdest thing happen to me last night. All was relatively normal. We went to dinner with friends - one of my favorites, Thai food. Ben shared my food - the norm. We went home and he ran FOUR laps around our block (which is .3 miles for one lap) - which of course, means we ran after him on all four laps. Did I mention it was 95 degrees outside??

We went to bed. At 3am, we awoke to our child kind of crying, but not sure. I went in there to calm him and thought he was going back to sleep. I later heard him in there playing... happy as a clam. I finally doze back asleep and my husband wakes me to tell me about a firetruck parked outside our house -- lights flashing. After we found out who they were helping, we went back to bed... Ben, he was STILL awake playing. 4:15am... still playing. 5:00am STILL awake playing. Finally, my husband went downstairs, got him milk. He went back to sleep by 5:30am. Finally, we woke him at 8:00am. Of course, I slept in too... it was a weird night. Ben didn't take a nap, still came home from school to play outside (97 degrees) and barely ate anything for dinner.

I swear if someone could bottle up the energy of a toddler, it would sell like hotcakes.

When it Rains, It Pours

Wow. What a week it has been. My father-in-law has colon cancer. My grandmother was in the hospital. My sister-in-law needs to move (I gotta help). Work has been crazy. In addition to the many roles I play, my husband is also stretched in a 1,000 different ways too, which means I need to support him.

Everyone has their own issues - some more serious than others - but I'm thinking this week is a topper. It's crazy. Even co-workers, friends and neighbors have weird crazy things going on. I can tell you, I was completely overwhelmed.

Let me get out my bucket as I bail myself out.
It's gonna take a while. Are you with me? Thanks.

As time goes by, things are returning back to the normal hectic format, but at least it's managable. I now have a new path to make for myself and my husband and our family work through the rough waters.

I'm a big believer that things happen for a reason. Words from my great-grandmother who lived to 96... I think she knows what she is talking about. Right now I am just trying to figure out what exactly that "reason" is.

My rock has been my husband's extreme optimism, and of course, the smile of my son's face. Nothing tops that.