working with kids

Good Morning!
In case you missed it, today is Friday! It did not elude me at all. I feel that this comes with working with kids.

Now don't get me wrong. I love the kids dearly. I love working with them and would rather do what I do then sit in a cubical. For example I took the picture above at the Getty center when we went last week. You don't get to do that sitting in an office. But when you work the hours I do it's harder. You aren't dealing with just your emotions but with four other sets that are all doing there own thing. You can't waver or blink. If they think they can get something past you they will. Being on your toes and staying sharp for 12+ hours is not the easiest thing. I've been doing this so much though that at this point I feel like I can do anything with the kids. I do my workouts with the twins and keep track of my budget and pay bills while they play in the living room. Next week I have to take them with me to the doctor.  But the mental and emotional strain is immense at times. When I learn I am working longer then 12 1/2 hours I feel like crying. It would be amazing if I ever worked less then 55 hours a week. This makes the weekends even more special.

I plan my weekend all week. I plan what I'm going to cook and what I'm going to do. My time away from the kids is amazing for me. Friday marks Movie Day with the kids and date night with Jono. It is the last day of a long week. This weekend we are going to the ren faire on Saturday and visiting the Kecks on Sunday. Fun will be had by all.

I hope you all have fun plans for this weekend and have some time to relax.

hugs+kisses
mattie

Mother's day is on the way

hello. I hope all of you are doing well. This past week has been a bit of a craze fest. For one we (Jono and I) got a new (to us) car. This means that I am now driving a car that works a lot better and Jono is getting the gas mileage he needs. Even though the process was overly painful (mainly due to his mother being involved) the end result is pretty awesome. I am much happier with this arrangement then the one we had before. It was stressful and maddening but it's done now and all is well.

I have never been more grateful for the mothers in my life. For those of you who may not know this I have 3 mothers. How? Well I have my birth mom, Ana, I have my blood mother-in-law to be, Carolyn, and my adopted mother-in-law to be, Marlyn Keck. The first and the last help me deal with the middle one. It's not easy at all. While I am overjoyed to know I will spend the rest of my life with Jono his mother drives me up the wall. It has gotten to the point where any conversation I have with her that's longer then 2 minutes leaves me shaking with anger and the need to leave the house. Thankfully neither of my other mothers live far away. Marlyn actually lives only across the street and 3 houses down. When things get hard I can run over there and know I will be loved and listened to and fed. I know I can always go to my mom's house for a nice glass of wine and a relaxing chat on the balcony. These two women are who I am celebrating on mother's day. These women who are always doing something always engaged and always there with a smile and a hug. These women are never idle. They always have something going on be it craft or an adventure. They inspire me more then I will ever be able to express to them in words. I try all year long to show them though. Most of the things I bake? they end up in the hands of these two women. I rarely keep more then a few cookies or a few slices of cake for myself. When I have my craft stuff out I am always trying to think of what to make them. I am grateful every day to have them in my life. They show me that there is no excuse to be idle. There are so many things you can be doing with your time so don't sit around wasting it. They remind me to create. Anything really as long as it's something.  I can never see these women retiring. Not the leisurely retirement some people take. Maybe retiring from one thing and doing something else. But never just sitting around. There have been time when I've thought about wanting to quit working and just relax and the thought of the look on their faces if I did that gets me out of bed and back to work. I feel the mother's day is not enough. How can it be? So while I plan on doing something small on mothers day for these women, I also plan on spreading it out over the whole year. Because really, how can you say everything in a day?

hugs+kisses
mce

Bread Pudding

Good Morning!
So yesterday I made an amazing discovery. Savory bread pudding. Sounds odd? I know. I thought since it was the first recipe that's all me in a while I should give you guys the recipe.

Savory Bread Pudding

6 cups Stale bread cubes (I had the butt ends of about 3 loafs)
6 eggs
2 1/2 cups cream or milk
about 2 tablespoons Italian seasoning (less if it's not your favorite)
1 tablespoon salt
2/3 cups goat cheese 
3/4 cups sauteed onions
6-7 roasted garlic cloves (or garlic confit if you have it on hand)
3 tomatoes (farmers market ones if you can get them)

Pre-heat oven to 350

Mix the bread with milk and eggs. Make sure the bread is well coated. Add the seasonings, salt, and cheese. mix till well combined. Smash the garlic into the bread mixture and add the onions. When everything is mixed completely. Pour into a 9x13in greased pan. Cut the tomatoes into slices and cover the top of the pudding with them. sprinkle olive oil over the whole thing and bake for an hour.

Next time I might add some sauteed mushrooms. Doesn't it sound hard? It turned out really well for something I threw together to avoid throwing out some bread I had laying around.

I hope you all have a relaxing weekend!
hugs+kisses
mce

I'm Back!

Hello!
I know it's been a while. There is a reason for this. I didn't have a working computer. The twins spilled a good half cup of coffee on my computer and killed it. Well mostly killed it. I have a friend who works on computers and he was able to fix it for a much smaller fee then it would have been to get a new one. Yay!

So to catch everyone up here we go!

Palm Desert:
Amazing trip. We have never stayed the full week before so it was awesome to have a full week. We also had our own place which was really nice for a change. I cooked some and ate a lot. I did not take a lot of pictures. Actually I think I only have one of some sushi and another of a rabbit. I meant of course to take tons and to update a few times from the desert but it was the friday before we left that my computer died so that all didn't happen.

Once we got home it was right back to the grind stone. I worked 12.5 hours the sunday after we got home and worked a full 5 day work week after that. I ended up working 72 hours by friday. Yea I was dead. I spent a nice quiet weekend.

I have been working off my phone for 2 weeks and it was not fun. Thankfully I have an Iphone so I could still do everything I needed to do. But recipes didn't happen. I am back to cookbooks.

I hope you all had a good 2 weeks. I am finally ready again for work. Last week was a mess but now I'm back on track.

I am also going to be making a garden. Any ideas on plants are welcome.

hugs+kisses
mce

p.s. 10 points to the person(s) who remember the movie with the same title as this post.

Spring Break and news

Good morning!
So I should be cooking. I should be packing. There is a lot I should be doing. But I'm sitting at work watching the princess and the goblin with the kids. I will be cooking later. I will be packing later. And it's raining. What better weather can there be to get ready to go to the desert. It will make the heat and sun all the better. I am so excited. To have a worry free week with nothing to think about but winning card games and wither to nap or swim. I am so excited to spend a whole week with my in laws. Not by blood but adoption. To have a whole week with a very loving mother in law. It will be amazing. I truly am grateful to be able to go.

But there is other news.

It was decided yesterday that I am going with my mom and Lars to Japan in July. This was not the plan before. I am still in a kind of shock and am really excited. I will be gone for 10 days from July 23rd to August 1st. It will be amazing I'm sure. Needless to say I have no idea whats going on.

But in the meantime I have a lot of packing and cooking to do. And a week away from the kids to look forward to.

hugs+kisses
mce

First Beach day of the summer

Hello!
As I write this I am sitting at work feeling nicely sun baked. You know that happy, alive and lazy feeling? That's it. Today I did something that I have never done. I have been asked and begged and pleads had been made and dismissed. Today these pleas were answered. I took the kids to the Beach. It was frighten and I was ready to back out at the slightest sign of disobedience. I told them that they would be told something once only and if that was not enough then we would pack up and leave and not come back for a long time. I made them all look at me while I warned each in turn. They were prefect. I couldn't have been happier with their behavior. They check with me as we left that they had been good and just how good had they been and were we going to come back to the beach again then? They dug in the sand and played in the waves and collected shells. My mom and cousin Sheri came with, which I have to say was the deciding factor in us going at all. It was amazing. I hadn't been to the beach in so long it felt like coming home. I went into the waves and lay in the sun. I have decided that since they were so good we will be going again soon. I feel as if summer has started now. I know spring has just begun but the beach is always summer to me.

I've been feeling so great lately. Maybe it's the fact that I know I have time off coming. And it's not the scary "who knows when I will be working again" time off. It's a week. Just a week. I can do a week. I am even working the Sunday I get back for 12 hours. Not sure how I feel about that yet. It's rational and smart and I know that. But it's also vacation. Oh well. As Jono pointed out, I'll be missing them by Tuesday so I might as well work Sunday.

I hope all of you are having an amazing time where ever you are.
hugs+kisses
mce

p.s. It was pointed out to me that the picture of Lu at the bottom of the last post may do with some explaining. That is Lu pushing a wight across the floor for her "workout". She insisted on doing it since it was one of the exercises I was doing.

Cookies, Cake and Spring

Hello!
If you haven't noticed Spring is here. Isn't it amazing?! In LA it is bright and sunny and perfect. I've been having a great week so far. I am still dealing with on going issues with my mother-in-law-to-be, but I have reached a point of "what will be will be", which makes it all a lot easier to deal with. SO with this in mind I baked cookies. Perfect Chocolate chunk cookies with sea salt. Doesn't that sound amazing? They are.

I also made Flourless Chocolate cake. It was another recipe out of my new cook book and it turned out amazing! So good that I was caught in bed with a slice last night by my Fiance/Trainer. There were raised eyebrows, foot taping, and promises of undying love and then more promises to work out extra heard today. It was a close call let me tell you.  Needless to say next time I need to make sure I remember what time he gets home from work. I also tucked two small slices away in my bag for lunch today. I was sneaking nibbles in the front seat while driving them around.

Spring also means Farmers Markets time. Jono has started going with me to these and we make a nice little trip out of it. I've fallen in love with salad greens from farmers markets. The crisp and tart and slightly spicy mixes you can make yourself out of big bins of lettuce leaves. With a light vinaigrette and some goat cheese they are perfect. It's time for light clean food. Cool and crisp. I am in need of bright flavors and simple food. I don't want to spend hours standing over the oven while the house gets hotter and more confining. It is time to be outside having a picnic.

I hope you all find yourselves outside soon. 

hugs+kisses
mce