Broke Down

Jack is sporting one wicked black eye. We were at the play area at the mall and he conked heads with a little kid about half his age and a head shorter than he is. The other kid was unharmed; Jack now looks like the dog from The Little Rascals. I only wish the photo did justice to the completely badass shiner that the kid is now sporting. It is amazing. I think he realizes that it looks cool, because he is perfectly willing to laugh at the fact that he got beat up by a baby.

In other news...

- Jack voluntarily ate two green beans last night. We are in shock. I was pretty sure he would never eat anything green unless it had an M on it.

- It has been freakishly warm here. All of the pretty snow has melted, and I've gone running IN SHORTS for the past couple of days. Huzzah! But also weird. My man Al Gore is silently weeping over the whole thing, I'm sure.

- I broke down and went to the doctor about my lingering (since, oh, November) knee problem. Every time I go running, my right knee hurts for a day or so. The doctor spent about ten minutes looking at it and said, basically, "Got me. Go see a specialist," so that's what I'm doing tomorrow morning. Of course, after the knee got some attention, it didn't bother me nearly as much during last night's run. Wouldn't it be great if this problem just solved itself?

- We've had a good run together, but it looks like my Nike + is dying. The sensor battery is low, and my friend the Internet tells me that they can't be replaced - I'd have to buy a new kit. Um, is it bad that I am seeing this as an opportunity not to buy a new $30 sensor kit, but rather to spring for a Garmin? Yes, there's a teeny price difference between the two, but I am pretty sure the Garmin will even do my laundry for me. I can't wait to get it in the mail.

Under Pressure

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I freaking love this commercial. And last night, I pretty much lived it.

It was a busy day at work. Not bad, just busy. But before I left, we had another incredibly painful and tearful goodbye from Jack. It is pretty much the worst possible way to start your day.

When I got home, he continued to cling to me like a barnacle. Steve was going to take him to the grocery store, but no way would he leave me for that long. So, whatever. I made dinner while holding him, which isn't exactly easy now that he's 30 pounds and wiggly.

He was super annoying at dinner. Jack ate, like, two bites of mashed potatoes and announced that he was full and ready for dessert. Ahem. He also didn't want me to eat my dinner and responded to my attempts to do so by pulling on my hand as hard as he could, saying, "Come on" over and over again.

Steve took out one of his plates and put two bites of chicken and a small mound of mashed potatoes on it, informing Jack that he needed to eat all of that food, or no snacks or dessert. Steve then had to go make a phone call, leaving me to deal with Jack.

Like an idiot, I went against my new policy regarding food, which is Eat it or don't eat it; I'm not going to beg you. I cajoled, I wheedled, I tried to inspire him to eat by having Spidey eat bites of chicken. Jack whined, spit chicken on the carpet, and generally annoyed the crap out of me.

The whole situation had me pulled in a million directions. On one hand,I feel horrible about the fact that he is having such seperation anxiety. I know that my little guy is going through a lot right now, and I just wish that I could shoulder all burdens for him so that life is nothing but easy for him. On the other hand, for the love of Yoda, kid, if you want to be around me so badly, how about not being a complete dick when you are? Then I feel guilty again, because I know that he's only being a dick because he needs me extra right now, and what the hell kind of mother am I if I'm calling my toddler a dick?

Steve got off the phone, detached a crying barnacle from my leg, and ordered me to go running. I picked a route with a really steep hill, reasoning that I'll need some extra hill training to prepare for the Bix. I also think that, subconsciously, I wanted a workout that would be really hard.

So I set off. At first, I was all distracted, thinking about how hard this whole situation is and wondering how badly I was handling it. But as I kept on running, all of it just melted away, just like in the commercial. By the time I was two miles in, all I was thinking about was the physical act of running. I felt a million times better.

And, as luck would have it, when I got home, I discovered a happy Jack, stripped down to his diaper, eating a giant cookie at the kitchen table, having made a valliant effort at eating the food we gave him. He was sweet, funny, and not even remotely unpleasant for the rest of the night.

Hey, and thanks to everybody who commented on my last post. It's nice to feel your support, it really is.

Cooking

or... in which Betsy admits to some seriously anal-retentive tendencies

I recently got a question in the comments section from Cherylann wondering about a comment that I made on Spin Me I Pulsate about meal planning. So, here's the deal...

I am a working mom, and I serve a home-cooked dinner pretty much every night. How do I do it? Well, I have to admit, it's not that hard for me, but it does require some planning on my part. Here's how it works:

1. Every week, I spend some time going through cookbooks and deciding what I want to cook for the week. Often, as I'm doing this, I'll have the sales circular for the grocery store next to me. I don't totally live by this, but if chicken breasts are on sale, I'll make an effort to cook with chicken breasts to save some money.

Usually I cook about three meals a week, planning for leftovers and for us to either go out one night or do something simple like sandwiches. Later, when I'm feeling ambitious (and when I get all of my books back from the storage place where they're currently residing), I'll post a list of my favorites. I am also a fan of those little cookbook magazine things that they have by the checkout line at the grocery store. It's not the most sophisticated food in the world, but it's good stuff, easy to prepare, and typically fast. I have so many of those cookbooks that I actually started ripping out the recipes that I like. Those are then collected in a little binder so I don't have to go through a zillion little books to find what I need. I also make sure I note what side dishes will go with each meal.

2. After I choose the meals to cook, I make out a grocery list. I have a Word document that has a section for each section of the grocery store, written in the order in which I walk down the aisles. I'll then go through my coupons and see if there are any I can use. If there's a coupon for an item, I'll put a C next to that item so I'll remember. As I write the list, I double check to see if there are any staples that I'm running low on -- milk, eggs, whatever. I keep a bunch of the blank lists in a drawer in the kitchen, and if I run out of something during the week, I put it on the list and post it on the fridge. I also check with Steve to see if there's anything he wants for lunches, snacks, and so on through the week, so it goes on the list, too.

3. At the grocery store, I really pretty much just buy what's on the list. If there's some produce that looks especially good and is reasonably priced, I'll buy it. Snack foods, like chips or cookies, are expensive and I don't really need them in the house, so I tend to just not go down those aisles. I really stick very closely to the list.

4. Usually I do the grocery shopping on a Saturday. Then on Sunday, during Jack's nap, I do a marathon cooking session. I cook all three meals and put them in the fridge for us to heat up and eat during the week. I tend to not cook anything that doesn't reheat well, because if it's only good for one meal, it's not the best use of my time. If Steve really has a hankering for, say, the hoisin pork chops that don't reheat well, then we'll have them for dinner that Sunday night. Casseroles and soups are especially good for leftovers.

5. When possible, I make stuff in big batches. If I'm making spaghetti sauce or chili, for example, it's just as easy to make a huge vat of it as it is just a little bit. Leftovers go in the freezer, to be pulled out when needed. Or, if I'm making grilled chicken breasts for that night's dinner, I'll grill some extra, then we'll make chicken salad sandwiches or put it on a salad. Often, we will have salad with several meals during the week. When that's the case, I will make a ginormous salad. If you put a moistened paper towel on it (re-wetting throughout the week) in the fridge, it'll keep really well.

That's what works for me. It helps that, by nature, I am an organized person. The idea of just going to the grocery store, grabbing what looks good, and hoping for the best when it's time to make dinner... I just wouldn't know how to deal with that. I have heard from other people that they couldn't operate this way because "my husband doeesn't like leftovers." Thank Yoda that's not the case in my house, because leftovers rock. It's a good dinner that you didn't have to cook! All you had to do was microwave it. You don't like it? Fine, then cook me dinner.

Anyone else got any tips or questions?