The Life of a Working Mom

I wish I had a picture of it - it has saved us on many outings…the Toy Bag.

We have an inexpensive canvas bag that we keep by the door, whenever we are on our way out, to eat or to the store or the Dr’s, I can grab it - it has a couple diapers and wipes, but the best part about the bag are the toys.  Nothing big, nothing expensive, and nothing the boys get to play with at home.  Right now we have it loaded with some match box cars, slinky’s, crayons and a couple of books.  I can’t even count the number of times it has saved us…and the fact that they are all such inexpensive items, nothing that is left behind needs to be retreived, or has ever been cried over.

That is what works for us….What works for you?  Head on over to Kristin at We Are THAT Family to share your tip, and find out what works for other bloggers!!

I am playing along with Mama’s losing it again…another weekly writing assignment and this one fits my crappy day.  The prompt I chose was

2.) Take a picture of yourself right this minute without primping and explain to us why it is you have not washed your hair today.

I can’t believe I am going to share the picture…but…here it is

Yup…that’s me in my PJ top.

It has been a long long day and I will gladly blame my exhausted look and my nasty hair on my job.  I left my house at 7:30 this morning, and once again made my way up to Cambridge, as it is school vacation week I was met with little traffic and arrived on site in a surprisingly good mood.  The day went down hill from there!!  It was long, nothing went as planned, nothing went as it should have.

At 4:30 I was informed that since it would only take another hour or so to complete we were staying (I had no choice in the matter).

At 4:35 I get a call from my husband saying leave now its snowing….sorry honey…not an option, not today.

At 6:00 things were still not working and even the customer just wanted us to leave…all eyes on me….what do we do next.  What “we” do is … I reschedule my plans for tomorrow, I upset even more people so that I can return and hopefully finish.  Then I get to drive home in the nasty icky snowy rainy mess, and open up my laptop and do more work.

I type this now on a break from paperwork and emails…I am tired….it has been a 13+ hour day, tomorrow doesn’t look like it will be any better and who knows what Friday holds.  I am tired, I miss my family, I miss being home, I miss having a schedule and a life, a clean home and a hot cooked meal every night.

The only thing I did when I got home tonight, the only thing not work related…I heard Tommy call my name, I went into his room and snuggled with him for a little while, he sweetly gave me kisses and hugs and made me feel just a little better, and a little sadder all at once.

I understand that I need to work, I realize and accept that I am a working mom and I am proud of the fact that I play such a huge roll in supporting my family, but I am at the point where I cannot accept the need to work so hard that I don’t get to see my boys to bed most nights, that I have to sneak in night time hugs and kisses.  I am working hard to change that now, hopefully sooner rather than later.

This past fall we were in Burlington Vermont and stumbled upon the Giant Pumpkin Regatta in Lake Champlain.  What two-year old wouldn’t be in wonder of the HUGE pumpkins being paddled around the lake (or a little area of it at least!!)

After a long period of absolutely nothing happening with the job search I have a (somewhat) big week.  My friend is trying to help me get a job with her company.  We have worked together in the past and she is working at for a great company right now that is incredibly stable.  Tomorrow I have a phone interview with their HR (”talent procurement” I think) in the mid-west and then Friday I have a phone interview with the hiring manager.  I am really hoping that these go well and we can move on to the in person interview quickly.  [I feel like my current job is going downhill fast and I need to get out sooner rather than later].

So wish me luck this week.  I am really hopeful about this one, and I think it would be a good change for me and my family.  I just need to nail the interview!!

I love to cook and bake.  I love giving my family freshly baked cookies and muffins and cakes and breads…but I just don’t always have the time.

I have found a way to make and freeze big batches of cookie dough so that it is always on hand and you can bake 3 or 3 dozen cookies on a whim.  (Just think next time your angel informs you that you need to make treats for school, for tomorrow, you can have something ready to pop in the oven and still keep up your super mom facade).

My trick…

First I make a HUGE batch of cookie dough

then (after I bake a couple to snack on).  I let the dough cool in the fridge for a couple hours to get firm.

I spread out some Saran Wrap and plop a big mound of dough in the center and cover it a losely with the wrap.

Then I start rolling it under my hands against the counter creating a long snake of dough, and transfer to a cookie sheet still wrapped in the plastic.

Once all of the dough is rolled into snakes I place the sheet in the freezer for about 20 minutes (up to overnight) letting it get nice and firm.

Once it is firmed up take a sharp nice and cut into evenly sized rounds. 

A great way to get nice even pieces is to cut like a sushi roll.

Cut the snake in half

put the halves next to each other and cut these pieces in half

then in quarters

this yields nice even pieces.

Stack the cut pieces in a tupperware container with wax paper or freezer paper between layers.  Cover tightly and place in the freezer.  That’s it…you now have ready to bake cookies.  It does take some time to prepare, but the amount of time and cleaning (my least favorite part of baking) it saves you in the end is completely worth it!!

Check out Shannon at Rocks in My Dryer for more Works for Me Wednesday fun and Blog Momma’s for more great tips!!

I can’t believe it, I finally have a semi-permanent spot to set up my sewing stuff.  I am so excited!!!  When we moved into this house we had no kids and we each had a spare room to spread out it, now, three years later the hubby and I have been…gulp….forced to share our fun room (ugh).

The walls may be black (yup…black)  I may have just a little corner…but I don’t care it’s MY CORNER.

…check it out…

That’s my little table

I am no longer limited to a tackle box of sewing supplies

I HAVE DRAWERS!!!

A place for all of my scissors

And thread

I am a very happy mommy right now….now I just need to start turning out the crafts!!!

Check out 5 Minutes for Mom and see how much we in the blogosphere have accomplished this week!!

So we were a little sick this past week and dinners were a lot of soup and sandwiches so this week we are having some carry overs.  I was good enough last week to prepare a ton of food to stock up our fridge and I am thrilled that some of our comfort-y favorites can be ready at a moments notice.

Sun: Chicken Pot Pie

Mon:  Dinner with friends (Yay Shannon and Mike!!)

Tue:  Wings (Yummy teriyaki marinade that I have crafted…recipe to come Saturday)

Wed:  Pot Roast, carrots, potatoes

Thur: Spaghetti with garlic, olive oil, and tuna  (one of my faves…I want it now!!)

Fri: Pizza night (make our own)

Sat: Turkey Fry…don’t need to cook (Again…Mike and Shannon rock!!)

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Grocery List

This week we need little for us to make it through the week.

eggs
sugar
bread
soda (rare treat for mommy - sierra mist free)
milk

That’s it…easy trip!!

I will go on Friday on my way home from work to get yummy fresh goodness for our pizza.  (tomatoes, fresh mozarella, mushrooms)

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Kind of boring I think.  It is time to go through the cook books and start putting together my favorites and some I think are interesting.  I need to introduce a little more variety into our dinners.

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Happy cooking!!

I love baking and I love making chocolate chip cookies!!  We actually just made a HUGE batch this morning (watch Wednesday to see what we did with the crazy amount of cookie dough that we had!!)

Here’s my favorite recipe:

Chocolate Chip Cookies

Makes about 120 cookies

Preheat oven to 375

1 cup shortening
1 cup butter
2 cups packed brown sugar
1 cup granulated sugar
1 tsp baking soda
4 eggs
2 tsp vanilla
5 cups flour
2 12oz packages semi-sweet chips

1. In a large mixing bowl beat shortening and butter with an electric mixer on medium to high speed for 30 seconds.

2. Add brown sugar, granulated sugar, and baking soda. Beat until mixture is combined, sdcraping sides of bowl occaisionally.

3. Beat in eggs and vnilla until combined.

4. Beat in as much of the flour as you can with the mixer. Stir in any remaining flour.

5. Stir in chocolate pieces

6. Drop dough by rouned teaspoons 2 inches apart onto an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake in a 375 degree oven for 8 to 10 minutes or until edges are lightly browned. Transfer to a wire rack to cool.

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Tips and Tricks

The above recipe makes fat almost fluffy cookies. If you like your cookies a little more on the flat and crispy side play with the ratio of butter to shortening. More butter less shortening will result in flatter cookies. Increasing the cooking time will result in crispier cookies regardless of butter/shortening

Use two cookie sheets (one in the oven and one to cool), cool the cookie sheet using a cool cloth or paper towel before spooning more dough onto sheet - this will prevent the butter and shortening from melting before the cookies make it into this oven. This is very important if you like your cookies to be fat.

Use good cookie sheets.  Working with quality bakeware can make a big difference in the results.  I bought myself two Calphalon cookie sheets and use them ONLY for baking - they really make a big difference

Play with the types of chocolate chips that you like. I usually mix semi-sweet chips and milk chocolate chunks. You can also substitute with white chocolate chips and macadamia nuts (very yummy!!)

Make a chocolate chip cookie pizza. Before adding the chips (and nuts if desired) spread 1/4 of dough onto a 12″ pizza pan then sprinkle with chips. (this will make up to 4 pizzas)

I have no time.  Working mom, stay at home mom, just mom, we often have no time for ourselves…I have a gym membership..HA!!  I don’t know why - I don’t have time to go.  But I do have a goal, a weight loss, get fit goal.  I am determined to get back into my pre wedding weight and clothes…determined.  That is where my Wii Fit comes in. We bought a Wii last spring and this past Christmas I was given the Fit and I love it!!!  Almost daily I can find as much as 30 minutes to hop on and be active.  The fact that I can do it anytime in my living room helps.  The fact that it is always there and ready to go.  I don’t need anything in addition to the fit, I don’t need to drive anywhere or make it to a class on time.  I just hop on whenever I can squeeze in a couple extra moments.  So the Wii Fit is what works for me, it works for my body (I have lost 11+ pounds since starting to use it late December) and it works for my mind and soul (it is therapuetic to hoola hoop like an idiot in my living room, to laugh at myself as I fumble through step aerobics)

I also love the fact that I have found a wonderful group of blogging moms who are all using the Wii Fit to help squeeze in that work out.  I love that I have found a virtual support group of other fitters!!