Squash

He seems to like squash.  I was, pleasantly, surprised by that.  Frankly he didn’t seem like a squash kid to me.  Don’t ask what a squash kid looks like though.  So far he’s not big on the ‘nanners nor the carrots, but I think he might get into them if I ask him to try again.  He still mows his rice cereal like it’s going out of style though.

He’s on his hands and knees now, rocking back and forth.  I have a feeling he’ll be crawling before I realize it.

Oddly his enjoyment of squash has made me want to try and find some recipes for squash when fall comes.  I’m trying to get into a habit of using more veggies around this house.  I figure if we want him to have good food habits Jason and I need to model them.  Hard when I’ve pretty much been raised on carrots and corn, but gosh darn it I’m gonna try.  I’ve got a small window here where he won’t realize that his mommy and daddy wolf down cheeseburgers while we give him carrots but that’s a small one.

Also, I’m getting sad that my rear end knocks things over.

Dinner on the cheap

As we all know the price of food is hovering somewhere around the less expensive than the Hope Diamond and more expensive than caviar range.  Seeing as I’ve been cheap in my old age and Jason enjoys eating as much food as I can cook I began making food cheap before this new “let’s not have the grocery bill mean we can’t pay the house note” fad.  So I share with you my friends a few of my “Dinner on the Cheap” recipes.

This first one I have to give credit to Dr. K for inspiering.  He gave me the idea for the base but I took it a step further.  Orignially it was meant as a side dish.

1/2 lb ground beef.  (How do I get that you ask?  Why my darlings you buy the big ‘ol fat package of ground beef but split it up into about 5 small zip lock bags.)

OR

2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts.

2 cups cooked rice (not instant)

1/2 jar salsa

1 can chick peas

1 can black beans, drained

1/2 white onion diced

salt and pepper to taste

Cheddar cheese for garnish

Oven 350

Brown beef or chicken.  If I use chicken I like to bake it in the oven.  Drain beef.  If you use chicken shred it.

In casserole dish mix cooked rice, salsa, beans and chick peas.  Add beef.  Salt and pepper to taste.  Bake in oven for 20 mins.  Top with cheese and bake for 10 more minutes.

This makes enough that even Jason can’t finish it.  Plus you use very little meat and beans so it’s a healthier  meal than hamburger helper.  Not only that but you can make it vegetarian by removing the beef and adding another can of peas or beans.

It’s been a while

Yeah, it’s been a while since I updated this blog.  Not because nothing has been going on but because by the time I can sit on my computer I want to mow down little elves bowling and then go to bed.

Two weeks ago I started a new job.  It’s a good job, medical billing.  I’m following up on unpaid insurance claims and I’m damn good at it.  So far my boss is impressed by how I jumped in and ran with the ball and how I’m actually getting some issues resolved.  Seems the two people who did it before me wouldn’t do anything if it looked complicated they’d just rebill it and rebill it and ignore it.  Sadly I’m looking at an account now that we will probably have to eat about 4k on.  Stuff like that pisses me off.

It’s a 40 hour a week gig.  It’s not going over well on my fibro though.  So far I’m dealing with it ok and I’m going to be going to my doctor to see about the new meds they have on the market.  Just to give you an idea how of often I actually take prescriptions, I found one, with only 4 pills gone, that had a date on it of 2005.  I figure once I start walking that path it becomes almost impossible to step off of it and for the most part I can manage things with over the counter stuff and rest and exercise.  Yes, I’m exercising.  Well, putting Kyle in his stroller and walking but that is exercise.

Tonight Jason and I have a meeting and Church to officially become members.  He was a member but because he went inactive they removed him.  I was a member at another church years ago but like many 20 somethings I got ambivalent about going.  I went through a period where I never stopped believing in God but stopped believing in Church.  In recent years I began to become interested in making it part of our lives again and when I had Kyle that corked it.  My parents never went on a regular basis so I grew up only going sporadically and I don’t want that for my son.  Jason grew up with a father who seemed to feel that you had to go to Church but it was an obligation and a chore.  He also seems to have used his Catholicism against his kids and his ex wife.  As if a man who hides his assets to screw his ex over is a real Christian.  But he was one of “those”.  At least from what I can gather.  Jason almost never speaks of his father but when he does it’s in pretty negative terms.

And in some ways I’m sort of glad his father was such a shithead.  Unlike some kids who grow up with one parental figure who checks out, Jason is hell bent on not being his dad.  And is probably way more interested in doing things with his son because he wants too, not because he feels it’s it’s fatherly obligation.

Anyway, it’s birthday month here.  My mom, dad, sister and my two eldest nieces all have birthday’s this month.  So happy birthday to them all!

Kyle has started solid foods!  At first I thought perhaps he was ready physically but not emotionally.  He fought, he spit and he made the Mr. Poison face.  But on the third night he was screaming at me if I didn’t shovel it in fast enough for him and stretching forward to meet the spoon with his face.  So far he just loves his rice cereal mixed with apple juice, he’s ok with banana’s and he seems to enjoy carrots.

It’s funny because he looks so much like me and my dad and his family.  This was something we never expected in a million years.  Yeah he might look like me but he’s his daddy in expression and personality.  He’s so laid back and easy going and such a boy.  He likes it when you bounce him, I put him on my bed and brace my arms around him and go “Bounce! BOUNCE!” and he just smiles so big.  He likes being dirty, enjoys to play flying baby and all these other ‘rough’ games.  He’s as generally happy as his daddy is and eats like his daddy too.  Talk about a baby who seems to have gotten the best of his mom and dad.  Now don’t get me wrong, my husband is hot but Jason’s personality is by far the thing I love most about him.  His pleasant, easy going, go with the flow.

While I would never consider my self hot or even overly pretty if I had to choose Kyle looking like me or having my personality, I’d choose looks hands down.  I’m over emotional, obsessive, retentive and given to periods of depression and deep self doubt.  So when I say he’s got the best of us I’m really saying God reached in and helped us make a son who is the best reflection of his mom and dad.

He’s also discovered getting onto his hands and knees, and my father swears he took two crawls forward the other day.  Lord help us.  He’s already inch worming across the floor and chewing on daddy’s XBox controller cord is a favorite pass time for him.  When he starts to actually crawl I have a feeling that he’s going to be one of those kids who will find everything, destroy everything and claim everything as his.  I’ve said it many times but I’ll say it again, I have a feeling our toddler years will be loads of fun.

Wicked

This cough will be the death of me.  In fact it sounds like the death of me.  All rattlely and harsh.  I can’t get a good nights sleep because I cough so bad I wake up and find my skull pounding.

All this and I start the new job today.  Oh joy of joys.

A few firsts

So, Kyle has his first sniffle.  He’s actually coming through it very well.  He’s not missed a beat even though his nose is runny and he sometimes coughs or sneezes.  Really all in all for a first cold it’s pretty un remarkable.

Oh, how did he get his cold?  From his mommy of course.  I have what is probably one of the worst immune systems you can imagine.  I can pick up a cold from a mile away and it’ll run like wild fire through me until I want to die rather than cough once more.  Luckily for me this is a mild one, though at almost 7 days now I’m still coughing pretty bad and yesterday my body almost shut down for the entire day.  Thank God for my mother in law.  She took Booger and I slept.  All.  Day.  Long.

Today I’m much better thanks.
The other first is Kyle can now roll from his back to his tummy.  Talk about freaking me out.  I didn’t think he was supposed to be able to do that yet, but he is.  My mother tells me I was a lot like that as a baby.  Sitting up fast, standing fast, went from belly crawl to walk, in fact she tells me she doesn’t really remember me crawling at all.  Funny now that you look at me and realize I can’t walk without falling over my feet.