Monday Morning Coming Down

Good Afternoon!
Yes I know the reference is off by a day. Oh well. I did so much this morning. And with the girls too. I cleaned the kitchen, which involved unloading, loading, and unloading the dish washer. Cleaned all the dishes in the sink, and cleaned out the fridge. All this was done while watching the girls and making them pancakes. I also baked two loafs of white bread and chicken. I have decided not to talk about why I needed to clean the kitchen while I was working or why it hadn't been done at all over the weekend. I am just going to be happy that it's done now. And all clean. I know there will be the start of a mess when I get home again but I don't care. I am proud of what I did. Now on the the bread.

Doesn't that look great? It tastes good too. I made it since I didn't have any bread to make the kids sandwiches on. I thought it would be kinda boring and lame but it was for the kids so whatever. It turned out really good! It tasted like the bread I remember my dad making when I was little. it made me wonder why I ever bought white bread ever. Not that I have done that recently, white bread is one of those things you cut out when you are engaged to a personal trainer. I have taken to having something to feed the kids at my house since I need to take them there sometimes and don't always have time to either pack them a lunch at their house or drive back to their house to get something for them. Now I will make sure to have this white bread for them. Really easy and yummy! I will post the recipe soon, I promise!

I also did some cooking/baking over the weekend. Not as much as I had planed but that's ok. I made more bread on Saturday, which was very hard to make. It was a very sticky dough and it was for a version of Italian bread. It turned out yummy if a bit flatter loafs then I thought they would be. I also made more balsamic glazed onions. I'm slightly obsessed with them. They are good on anything and I have taken to keeping a jar full in the fridge. I also made balsamic tomatoes. Still working on that one though. Jono and I had Brazilian takeout one night and got what they called bushetta. It came as toast, mozzarella, and this container of balsamic tomatoes with basil seasonings. I am trying to recreate it. Not so easy. I also made Blueberry tea cakes. I got a mini bunt pan and mini loaf pans. It has a lemon glaze and turned out really well. Overall it was a good weekend and I feel good about it. I always feel better starting the week knowing that I got things done over the weekend and didn't waste it and laze around.

hope you all had a great weekend and a good start to your week!
 hugs+kisses
mce

Bread and Field Trips

Good Morning!
So far this short week as been great. The kids have been good. It's hard to have a bad day when as soon as I walk in the door I am greeted with "good morning mattie! I love you!" everyday. Yesterday they had a really full day. It was a Wednesday, which is the day I plan field trips for them, and they had been begging me to take them back to the Getty Center. So after I picked them up from school we all heading up to the Getty. They had a ton of fun. They really love it there which is a constant amazement to me. They have grown so much. Before I wouldn't be able to stay there for 20 minutes before they would all go crazy.  After the Getty they wanted to go to the library. So we stopped on our way home and ended up staying there for at least 30 minutes maybe closer to an hour. Again an amazement. Here are some pictures of them at both Getty Center and Villa.

On another note bread has taken over my life. I an obsessed with finding new recipes and baking bread. This is the main culprit.

Isn't she pretty? I love her. I did a ton of cooking this past weekend. As you can slightly see in the background of this picture I cooked two Cornish game hens. Also these lovelies.

And they smell as great as they look! I was very proud of myself. So needless to say I have checked out about 6 different bread cookbooks. And raided my boss's collection of cookbooks for two more bread books. I'm am really excited to make some more this weekend. Maybe even make some with the kids tomorrow.

Hope you all have a great day!
hugs & kisses
mce

Mixer!

Good morning!
So I have something very exciting to tell you all. I got a Kitchenaid mixer! It was a surprise to me too. My mom got me one out of nowhere and then Jono exchanged it for the biggest one they make. So it was about half and half. I wouldn't have gotten one at all if not for my awesome mommy! So now I have a huge powerful mixer that can do anything! Ok maybe not anything but almost. There are so many things I want to make I don't know where to start. I have read up on it and it says not to start with a heavy dough like bread. So cookies and cakes are first. It's so exciting. I just don't know what to make first!

Other then that excitement Not a lot as happened in my life. Oh there are little things that happen every day but nothing life changing. It's been hard getting used to the new hours and I am becoming a lot closer to the kids every day. It's going to be very hard when/if they move. I feel less like a nanny now and more like a second mom. When you spend upwards of 61 hours a week taking care of kids they become almost yours. They take up my every waking moment monday thru friday. It's been balanced out nicely now with my weekends with Jono. We have been more social lately since we are able to get more time together we don't mind sharing our time with others. Before we had so little time together we wanted it to just be us for the little time we had.

I have also been reading a lot more. I thought I didn't really need a kindle since I wasn't really reading that much. But it turns out I wasn't reading as much because I didn't have a kindle. I've been reading almost constantly. I've lost track of how many books I've read since I got it. It's all "fluff" books so nothing too deep and all quick reads but it makes the days go past faster. I can read while the kids play or while they nap. Once I have a little more off time I can read something that takes a little more work to read through.

I hope you all are having a lot of fun and happiness.
Hugs+kisses
mce

Field trips and pancakes

Good morning!
I am sitting at my own desk in my house. I know you may look at the time and the day and say "shouldn't you be working?" well I am! I have the twins here and they are watching disney movies. Right now it's Snow white. I've gotten into the habit of bringing the twins here after I drop the older two off at school. I make pancakes and they see Jono and watch cartoons.Thank you Grandma! They have fallen in love with Grandma Marti's pancakes and insist on them almost every morning. If I run out I am told in a very matter of fact way "well you are going to have to make more then". I use this time in the morning to clean the house and get my lunch together and sometimes start dinner. So there is now a never ending supply of pancakes in my house.

Today I am trying something a little different. Wednesdays are always the hardest days since the older two get out 2 hours early. So to deal with this extra time I am taking them to the Huntington Gardens. I have high hopes for this since there really aren't too many rules there and they can run around a lot and play. I have packed them lunch and packed the car and hopefully it will all go well!!

hope you all have a load of fun today!
hugs+kisses
mce

Busy Bumble Bee

Good Morning!
I know it's been a little while since I posted. Everything has just gotten so crazy busy around here. I'm adjusting to the new hours and it's not as bad as I thought it was going to be. Don't get me wrong it is a lot of work and long days but it's not killing me the way I thought it was going to. I've tried to keep my weekends busy to make up for the crazy weeks and it seems to be working. I went to the Long Beach aquarium last Saturday and Disneyland last Sunday. Both with my dear friend from HSU, Brian. I hadn't seen him in ages and it was really great to be able to hang out with him for the short time he was here. Last night I went to the Comedy Store on sunset to see one of my friends do stand-up. It was great! I didn't realize how much I miss all my friends till now. I get so caught up in my every day life that I don't have time to think about it. I'm hoping to get to see them all more.

In other news I got a Kindle! Just the smallest basic one but it's awesome! I am reading so much more now. I think in the past 3 weeks I have read around 10 books. That's more then I got to in the last 3 months. It really helps when I'm at work. I see now what all the hype was about. 

The only thing that hasn't been working out these past weeks is food. I haven't been cooking nearly enough to get me through the week. I just haven't been hungry at all. Does anyone else get that way? I just don't think about it till someone mentions it. Like Jono when he comes home from work and asks me what I ate that day, and I have to pause and try to think if I did eat anything. I know I can't let myself fall into a rut like this but it's hard to get out of. I'm sure I'll find something to get excited over again soon. The other hard thing is that I don't see Jono nearly as much. I work 12 hour a day Monday thru Friday and he works 12 hour days Saturday and Sunday. All that leaves us is the few hours between when we get off and when we have to go to bed. Not a lot of time at all. He has been making dinner for me during the week when he don't train late. I can't begin to tell you how nice it is to come home to dinner already in the oven.

hope everything is going well for all of you!
hugs+kisses
mce

New Year

Good morning!
I have to say that the new year is bringing a lot of new challenges. This is what my hours were this past week; Monday- off, Tuesday-12hrs, Wednesday- 12.5hrs, Thursday- 12.5hrs, Friday- 14hrs. Yes that means that I worked about 51 hours in 4 days. Needless to say I was thrashed by Friday night. But the kids were really good all week. I have also realized that I really really need to pack meals for the whole day. To start this off right I did a huge market trip yesterday. I got things to make and a few frozen "omg I have no time to pack!" things. To start it all off right I made lamb meatballs yesterday. Very messy. But really good! I have frozen them so I can take them out and make them when I get home at night. I have realized that another issue that I hadn't thought of is eating when I get home from work. I am working on dishes that I can prep ahead of time and then have Jono do the last step or two after he finishes training for the day. I am planing on making Ragu today after I do yoga with Jane! I have really missed doing yoga and it will be really nice to start getting back in the habit again. It's not as easy to stay on top of things when I get really stressed and yoga really helps with that. Also it will get awesome to see Jane. The weekends are really all for me right now since Jono works 12 hours a day both Saturday and Sunday. I use it for prepping for the week ahead, cleaning and doing laundry, and relaxing. So far it's worked out great. As long as I do what I need to do before Monday the week should go as smoothy as I can make it. At least that's what I hope!

hugs+kisses
mce

So much to say!

Hello!
Goodness it's been a while since I wrote anything. My only excuse is that I was really busy. Like really really busy. I guess if I just do this is order it will be clearer. So here it goes!
Lead up to Christmas
As I told you all I wanted to make all my presents to others. And as I said that was a lot of people. Here is a list of what I made. And yes I got it all done!
Chile de arbol puree
Chile de arbol salsa
Peanut Butter sauce
Hot Fudge sauce
Oven dried tomatoes
Crackers
about 3 batches of Brownies
about 20 pairs of earrings 
It took forever! But it's all done. I managed to make enough to give to people I had only hoped to gift. It was a little crazy for a while there.
Then there was a ton of family events for Christmas over 4 days.
I had meant to write more about these things as they were happening but it didn't happen. Sorry!

So as I mentioned in my last post my work schedule has changed. I am trying to figure out just how to deal with the change mentally. I know I need to do this and I know I can it's just the how I need to figure out. Thankfully I truly do love these kids which makes it easier. I have realized that for me to deal with this change I am going to need to be extremely well organized. More so then I have ever been. Part of this is Making sure I have both lunches and dinners for a whole week set out and at least some part done. Any ideas?

I hope you all had a great Christmas!
Hugs+kisses
mce