The Next Food Network Star Ep 4

This episode was the best this season thus far. I was surprised and a bit saddened to see Tedd go this week. I think it had a lot to do with last week's drama. His food was better [cooked] than Katie's on the burger challenge. True, he froze during his presentation on the Intrepid but I felt so bad for him. While he was fumbling for the right words and looking at his palm, I was cheering for him.

Jamika. Wow. Definitely not a hit on the Intrepid. I guess she cannot be stellar every week. It was sad to see how awful her food was received. Saving grace this week had to have been her presentation on the Intrepid. I am still rooting for her overall.

I was lukewarm about Jeffrey this week. I felt bad that he received the oddest combo of ingredients for the main challenge. Blueberries and lobster? Plus, he had a great disadvantage having to deal with the lobsters, cook them in all less than an hour and a half. Had he been happier with his dish, I believe his presentation would have been more enthusiastic. You could tell even he was having a hard time trying to find a way to present his dish in a positive light.

Michael - I still like him a lot but think he could do a whole show in s Martha Stewart style. Maybe in front of a live audience? I was so glad he won the 1st challenge. He truly deserved that win. He will be one of the final three contestants.

Debbie - HAHAHAHAHA! I admit that I had to rewind the part where she got hit in the face and watch it a couple of times before moving on. First of all, anyone with any kitchen experience knows that you never walk up behind a cook who is taking something out of the oven without announcing your presence. We always did that at my house growing up. Secondly, she blamed the blandness of her chicken on her injury but her chicken was almost done before she got hit. She milked it for what it was worth and then some. Finally, I am sick of hearing her talk about her southern/Asian heritage. Same story every week. blah blah blah blah blah

Katie is still pretty unforgettable to me. Only now when I think of her, I just think of raw meat. The lamb a few weeks ago and now the turkey burger. I honestly think she should have been sent packing instead of Teddy this week. And, to be honest, her tears do nothing but aggravate me.

MELISSA! She was so awesome this week. Not only did she win the main challenge, but I believe that she has now earned the respect of the other finalists.

Who I think should be in the Top Three:
Melissa
Michael
Jamika

Who will probably be in the Top Three:
Debbie
Melissa
Jamika

Hmmm...the judges, ooops I mean Selection Committee, love Debbie more than she deserves. Either it is the editing - which I highly doubt - or she had dirt on each one of them.

Fun Days

Today is our Family Day.

Where we all hang out and have fun together as a family.

So far, we have had breakfast, played, had a snack, went to the pool, and now naptime.

First of all, the snack.

It is from a cookbook called 'fun food for Healthy Kids' that I recently acquired.

Ingredients:

1/4 cup smooth or crunchy almond butter (I actually used peanut butter)

2 T milk chocolate chips

1-2 T milk

1 (8-inch) whole wheat tortilla

1 large banana, peeled

To Do:

Combine almond butterm chips, and 1 T milk in medium microwavable bowl. Microwave on MED for 40 seconds. Stir well and repeat if necessary to melt chocolate. Add more milk if necessary for desired consistency. (I didn't use a microwave, I used a double boiler.)

Spread mixture on tortilla. Place banana on one side of tortilla and roll up tightly. With a sharp knife, slice into 2 one-inch slices.

Here is what it should look like:

Here is what it looks like after an 18-month old boy has it:

Pure joy on his face!!!

Since the children were on a slight sugar high, we took them swimming. N won't go in the pool. We tried everything and he just screams. I am going to have to take him to a small wading pool to get him used to the water. Last year he loved it! He cried everytime we took him out of the water. Complete opposite this year. Claire loves being in the water as long as she doesn't have to let go of me or J. Death grips on our neck. And both kids had float devices on them. It was only our second pool attempt this summer. I intend to keep taking them back so they get used to it.

And sign them up for swim lessons soon.

Today is my husband’s birthday.

I really need to go to the store and at least get him a card. I feel awful that I haven’t gotten him anything yet. Added to that, I have to work late tonight and probably won’t be home until after the children are in bed. Maybe I will stop and get him a cake as well.

I did meet up with him and the children for lunch today though. And ran into a good friend with her children. Her children are the same age as ours and they all play so well together. It’s a great match all around.

It’s a great thing that birthdays are not major events for him, else he would be sorely disappointed this year. I hate having to work late tonight but need to do well at this job. Tonight is Planning Commission Meeting night at the County. The meeting starts at 6:30 p.m. and should be getting out kind of early. The agenda is rather small. I may be home by 7:30 p.m. if things go well.

He is taking it in stride that I won’t be home for dinner. I have to admit, if situations were reversed, I would be peeved if he were working late on my birthday.

Can you tell I am a little upset about working late?

On a positive note, my sister and her husband gave J a new game for the xbox. It’s the game all my husband’s friends are playing online. I will be a video game widow for a while until he beats the game. Which isn’t always a bad thing. Gives me time to read and catch up on other stuff.

But let’s take a little time to expound on J’s virtues.

He is very loving.
He is patient with me.
He has an amazing sense of humor!
He is kind and thoughtful.
He is a wonderful Dad.
He is the best hubby ever!
He buys great gifts.
He is HOT!!!

Those are not all his virtues but my break at work is over so I must go.

Til next time…

Working days...

Well, I got to remember yesterday what it is like to work in an office full of women. At my temporary job I work on a floor with nine other women and one male. The male is the head of the department (part of which is where I am and the other part in another building) but he stays in his office or next door most of the time. He is a great guy and I do enjoy working with/for him.

Anyway, when you have that many women together, there will be cattiness. And I learned that if you are nice to the one person the majority of the other ladies don’t like – you get blackballed for a while. It gets cliquey. I am just there part-time. Temporarily. I just want to show up, do my work and collect my paycheck. I am not there to make close friends not to make enemies. I treat everyone fairly and won’t gossip about any of them. So when I treated the office pariah nicely – woo hee – you woulda thought that I did something illegal. Ice cold shoulders for me for the rest of the afternoon from a few of the others. Whatever! I am there to work so can we all just grow up and be adults – not act like we are all still in junior high? Today, all is well with the world and they all want to be buddy/buddy with me. Fine, whatever.

After work, I ran to Manassas to get my hair done. I went for a short angled bob with highlights. I watch my hairdresser’s boys on Fridays and she cuts and colors my hair for free.
Then I raced to my parents’ house to collect my children. They had been out of town for the weekend and I hadn’t seen them since Friday afternoon. I was so glad to finally hold them in my arms again.

We headed home and I threw them in the bath. Afterwards we read books and snuggled before bed. Since we hadn’t seen each other in such a long while, they got to go to bed a little later than usual. When they were finally settled into bed, I threw on a load of whites. J walked in the door right after that and as neither of us had eaten dinner yet, I fixed us a quick snack. Then I ironed my clothes for work today, fixed my lunch for today, and then started on a snack for Claire’s Wednesday night class. I had wanted to try these for a while.

First, pour a bag of white chocolate chips into a heavy duty Ziplock bag. Microwave for 30 seconds. Squeeze the bag. Repeat until the white chocolate is melted.

Line a baking sheet with wax paper. Place small pretzel rings (I couldn’t find rings, so I used mini-pretzels.) on the wax paper about 2 inches apart. Snip off a small corner of the Ziploc bag and pipe the white chocolate around the pretzel starting on the outside and finishing at the center so that it makes kind of a white round blob. Top it with a yellow M&M and voila!

It’s a fried egg!

TNFNS Episode 3

I just finished watching Episode 3 of The Next Food Network Star. WOW!

First of all, if is was one of the selection committee, I would have really sent both Teddy and Eddie home. Debbie is not, never has been, and probably won't ever be one of my favorites to win - but the treatment she received from Teddy was horrific! And the attitude Melissa received from Eddie was unacceptable. She finished in the top three the first few episodes and he is always in the bottom three. Why does he think he is a better cook than her

Jamika and Jeffery are really pulling ahead as my two favorites. Teddy is who I am hoping goes home next. I still don't trust Debbie either. Melissa I like but would probably never really watch a show with her as the star. Micheal seems to have great food but I still see him doing more of a Martha Stewart style show than one just centered on cooking. Katie - not memorable at all. Even her nutrition facts are forgettable.

Glad Eddie did go home. First of all - using one of Paula Deen's recipe on this show? Not only did he make a loser salad, but was taking Paula down with him!!! Not exactly the brightest bulb on stage. And to think I kind of like him on the first episode. Or maybe I just thought he was adorable and I am now looking past his features. Then, the eye-rolling. So glad Bobby Flay watched the video of the teams cooking together. Eddie's whole attitude towards Melissa really bothered me. I feel somewhat protective of her. I will be sad when she does go home but don't think she has what it takes to win overall.

For overall winner, I am still pulling for Jamika but am not entirely 'in love' with any of the finalists at this point. No one has really grabbed me and made me want to root for them. I just feel like I am rooting against the 'villains' at this point in the show.

I've never really watched one of Ina's shows but do have one of her cookbooks. I am definitely going to make a point of watching her now that I have seen her on this show. I don't even know what her culinary point of view is. I am looking forward to finding out though. She looks like she would be an interesting character.

Looking forward to what next week will bring...

Guilt From a 3-Year Old

Claire has Masters Club God's Little Treasures class on Wednesday nights at our church. Every two weeks she has a new verse to say. She has been doing real well on her verses. Last week, she refused to say her verse. I didn't really think much of it as I had just started back to work and didn't work on the verse with her that Tuesday and Wednesday. And I didn't let J know to work on it with her.

This week, J kept repeating the verse to her over and over. She would not say it to him at all. I got a pack of stickers and told her that if she told Miss Amy or Miss Amber the verse, then I would giver her a sticker. Yeah, I know, bribing her.

We did not harp on the verse all week, just worked with her on it at certain times during her 'school time' during the day.)

On the way to church, I went over the verse with her again. I knew that she knew it as she had told it to me on Monday. J was home with a sick, little Nicholas tonight. She told me she would only say it to Miss Amy. I said that was fine. We started talking about other things. She told me she had fun with Daddy. They built a tent today and played in that. And he read her books. We were getting closer to church so I said her verse again and asked her why she wouldn't say it to Daddy.

She looked at me and said, "You're at work, Mommy."
I said, "Yes, but Daddy is a good Daddy and you can tell him your verse."
She said, "Daddy is a good Daddy. But you're not there."
I told her that Mommy has to work for a while but Daddy loves her and wants to hear her verse too.
She said, "You're at work. He's Daddy and you're Mommy. I 'posed to say it to you."
I once again told her she could say it to Daddy.
She told me she would say it to Miss Amy.

We pulled into the parking lot and she told me she would say her verse to Miss Amy but not to me. I asked why not me anymore. She told me she's mad! Why is she mad? Mommy's at work.

Broke my heart.

I know I need to continue working. We need the income until something comes open for Jason. And he has had a few calls already. And getting out of the house is great. I get to be Stacey and not J's wife or Claire's Mommy or Nicholas' Mommy. I get to have my own identity. But I hate being away from my children all day. And now I know that they really notice and miss me. Part of me is glad they miss me but I didn't realize to what extent until tonight.

Only one more day this week, then I will be with them all day on Friday. Looking forward to it!

Busy day today

Well, I am sitting here exhausted but I can't sleep. Maybe I am too tired to sleep. There really is nothing on television and I don't have the energy to search my dvr'd list

Back at work. And I am back into the working mommy syndrome. I enjoy the socialization of working and talking to other adults. And having 'girl talk' as J calls it. But I hate being away from my children that long. I wonder most of the day what they are doing, if they miss me, or if they realize I am not there. Or if they are having more fun with Daddy than they did with me. Sad, I know. Almost pathetic

I still don't know quite what to do with myself for a whole hour for lunch. Today I walked to the library, checked out a book, and sat outside on a bench and read. It was just about perfect

Tonight J has class so I have the Claire & Nicholas by myself. We played so hard. I kept the tv off so that I could spend more time with them. We jumped on my bed, had a tea party, played baby goes night-night where I was the baby, read 5 books, they had a bath and are now in bed. Then I scrubbed my bathroom, did three loads of laundry, fixed my lunch for tomorrow, cleaned the living room, and made brownies. It is no wonder I am so tired

Off I go now, gotta get ready for tomorrow.

The Next Food Network Star

I really do not watch a lot of television. There are just a handful of shows that I try to make it a point to watch.

One of which is ‘The Next Food Network Star’ on Sunday evenings at 9:00 pm.

It has only been on for two episodes this season, but I already know who should win and who should have really gone home the first week.

Jamika should go ahead and be declared the winner! I love her attitude, she looks good on camera, she handles herself well, and she is a team player.

Debbie should have gone home the first week after her leadership fiasco! Maybe Jen’s green beans were not the best and Eddie’s BLAST Bowl was a disappointment, but seriously? Unless they are leaving major footage on the edit room floor, Debbie really screwed up. She may have a good personality and make a tasty spicy mayo, but to lie by omission? Really judges? And to the editing and production team – first impressions are lasting impressions – so it will take a lot for me to change my opinion of her. IF it was truly editing which painted her like that, and I seriously doubt it, not a good call for someone the judges obviously thing is great.
Now, I don’t know if the judges get to see any of the footage prior to making their decision, but they really should. Debbie threw her whole team under the bus on that one and is still somehow a darling of the judges. She needs to go home and go home now.

Back to Jamika. I am hoping that she doesn’t stay the same but continues to improve on her already strong foundation. She won the second challenge of the day and gets her own spread in Good Housekeeping. I need to go out and get a copy of that.

Plus, she is a southern gal and what more do you need?

I am so hooked on this show now. J makes fun of me for how involved I get.

Not The Kind of CHANGE We Were Expecting

Well, my year and a month of a SAHM has come to an end.

My husband got laid off a week ago today. When he got home sometime between 2 and 3 that afternoon, I knew something was up.

After some major crying on Thursday evening and Friday morning, I decided to see what I could do to help out. I contacted my most recent place of employment just to see if they knew of anything. I was not really expecting much as they are under a hiring freeze. By Friday afternoon, I had a part-time (30 hours a week) job that I began this past Tuesday morning. Most of the work is part of what I used to do there. I know most of the people with whom I will be working, and I really do like all of my co-workers! It is the perfect arrangement. I am off every Friday so that I can still keep my daycare boys. And my husband is at home, for now, to watch our two little ones during the day.

There are definite pros and cons to being back at work.

PROS

• I get a whole 60 minutes for my lunch break. I have no idea what to do with that much time to myself!
• I get to eat lunch without any pudgy little paws stealing my food.
• No fighting and screaming matches to referee.
• Wearing dress clothes and makeup everyday.
• Talking to other adults.
• Chatting with females.
• INCOME!!!

CONS

• The whole summer I had planned (swimming, library visits, VBS, etc.) will be enjoyed by my hubby instead of me.
• No hugs and kisses and I love you mommy from the kids all day.
• Missing my children.

I am just thankful for a job and one that came along that quickly. Just when I needed it the most. And all of this is temporary. Hubby is looking for a job. He has applied to so many places and is continuing to do so. But he is enjoying the time with the children. And it is good for all three of them.

More later on all of that.

Cranky Days

Today was a cranky day for all in our household. Last night, Nicholas had a hard time sleeping and ended up in our bed around midnight. Not too long after that, Claire was awakened but the storms and joined us. Our bed definitely not big enough for four people. One of whom likes to sleep horizontally instead of vertically.

So hardly any sleep last night made four very cranky people today. Jason got to escape to his work while I stayed home with the kids. We really couldn't go anywhere as Claire was complaining of a headache due to the previous day's injury and she was covered in mosquito bites. When she gets bit, she really swells up. Here is a picture of her from last summer with a single mosquito bite near her eye.

So I kept her inside most of today until time for church.

We were all going a bit stir crazy today being cooped up inside. Then I decided instead of being a parent, I would try to see things from their point of view. I got down on the floor and played like a toddler. It was a lot of fun! I wore a laundry basket on my head, colored, had a tickle fight with Claire and Nicholas. We wore ourselves out. They got to nap while I got to clean. I think they rather enjoyed our playing.

Then it was time for church. Again tonight, they were rather pleasant for me during the bathing and dressing process. I could get used to that.

All in all, nothing exciting happened and hardly worth blogging about. But I am trying to get in the habit of blogging. When I get used to it, hopefully things get more interesting.

Yesterday was one of those rare days that was just about perfect! As soon as breakfast was over, the kids and I got dressed and went to the store then headed to the playground. There was a preschool arriving at the playground at the same time as us. They were 2-3 year olds which worked out well as it gave my kids other children for playmates. Then we headed back home. The best part was that we walked everywhere we went!

After lunch, I put them down for naps. Nicholas went right to sleep. Claire only slept for about 45 minutes. When she got up, I took her out on the deck with her compluter and we went over her letters and numbers for about an hour. She not only knows all of her letters but what sounds each letter makes.

That evening, when J got home, he took the kids back to the playground while I went to the onsite fitness facility. I only got a 20 minute workout done but it was a good start. I am hoping to get in a workout tomorrow morning before he heads to work.

Today we spent the day at my parent's house. I cannot remember the last time Claire played so hard

Here she is pushing two of her cousins, Abril on the right and Adriana on the left, on the swings. I think she had almost as much fun doing that as she did swinging.

And she loves playing with her cousins. She is always asking if they can come over. She also thinks every time they come over, we should have a party. With cake. And party hats.

Nicholas only got a short nap, about 30 minutes, until he realized that everyone else was outside eating popsicles. So he had to join us. And have a popsicle.

My younger sister found these kid-sized popsicles at Bloom and they are perfect! Of course he still made a mess but that's what little boys do.

I think his favorite part of the day was when we kept trying to sneak drink from the bubbles. Or when he found a spider crawling towards him.


But now time for me to go to bed. I am planning on getting up early tomorrow morning for another workout.

Honestly, it was a great weekend! For the most part.

Friday night I go to go out to dinner with six other ladies. We are all friends from church and we just sat around talking for hours with no interruptions. It was wonderful. We went to Faang Thai Restaurant & Bar in Warrenton. The service was very speedy, our waiter didn't mind if we sat there chatting, and everything was delicious. Afterwards, we walked to Border's for coffee and ended up talking there until well after 10:00 pm. We actually lost track of time until the coffee shop started turning off their lights while we were still there.

On Saturday my older sister and I went with my two little ones up to Maryland to visit my Grandmother. She is 90 years old now and I just love her. I try to call and visit her as much as possible.This is the two of us in her bedroom. She loves to have company over and cook for them. I am a lot like her and consider that a great honor. She is my only living grandparent that I have left and I am cherishing the time that I have to spend with her and learn from her.

My children love her as well and know that their Great-Grandmother will spoil them! Which is fine by me. That is the job of the grandparents and the great-grandparents. N even learned that he just had to run over to her and make his lower lip wobble and she would pick him up and give him love.

They also enjoy riding in her new walker. I love this picture with C holding onto N so that he doesn't fall.

And she enjoys having them around her too.

Plus, showing them off to her friends up there is a treat.

Yesterday was Sunday. Which means church day. We all got up, had breakfast, bathed, got dressed an out the door. On time! With hardly any fussing at all! Which is a minor miracle in and of itself. Then on the way to church, C started crying and saying she had a boo-boo and needed to go to her doctor instead of church. When we got to church she had a red splotch on her back the size of a dessert plate with little white spots on it. I asked a lady in our church with a medical professional background what she thought it was. She told me it looked like an allergic reaction to something. We checked C's back about 10 minutes later and the red mark had moved. Not spread, just moved. On the way home, C kept scratching at herself and asking for her doctor. She took Benadryl and went right to bed almost as soon as we walked in the door. Jason said he would stay home her last night so that I could go back to church. He also said that if she was still sick the next day, I'd be the one taking care of her so it gave me a small break.

Which was nice. We had a new member fellowship after church and I got to go all by myself and just talk to other adults without having to constantly watch my little ones. I love them dearly but it was nice being me for a while and not someone's Mommy.

Looking forward to today!