One Holiday Down...

I made it through Thanksgiving...barely. I've had a KILLER headache for 2 days now and nothing is helping it go away! The food was surprisingly good at my MIL's and I only shed a couple tears when I had to drop my Mom off tonight...

So yeah. Thanksgiving down, just Christmas to go!

Countdown to T-Day

It's almost here! Thanksgiving!! Yay!! NOT. We are spending the whole day with my in-laws this year. It really won't be that bad, but it doesn't require some work to mentally prepare for the day. I am pleasantly surprised that we aren't providing everything this year. Usually my MIL asks us to make potatoes, sweet potatoes, scalloped oysters (yuck!), 3 pies, a jello dessert, and rolls. She provides just the turkey. But this year our list of items was shortened to just sweet potatoes, two pies and the scalloped oysters (still yuck). I'm glad, but now I'm wondering who's in charge of the other stuff? Is she going to cook everything else? Martha Stewart she isn't. I guess we'll just have to see!

On other holiday news, our tree is up, lights are put up on the house and stockings are hung. I think the Hubs jumped the gun a little but they do look nice...is it January yet?

Holiday Blahs--The Early Edition

I do not like the holiday season. Does that make me a bad person? I mean I make it through Thanksgiving ok, but Christmas straight on through New Year's is all down hill. Christmas has always meant stress, money concerns, too much running around, and too much focus on the gifts for everyone, too much family trying to cram a years worth of bonding into one day. Tonight the stress began about what day to have our family Christmas get together. Due to more family being in state this year and multiple parties, I suggested our family celebrating a week later. Make it a NYE/Christmas party. Well you'd think I killed the Pope or something. It's been nothing but drama and bickering for a week now. I had an all out fight with my youngest brother about it. Because he decided a hockey game would be more important for him on the night of our party. Add to this the fact that my husband LOVES Christmas and has been playing Christmas music since the day after Halloween and you can see why I'm a bit off. He's been calling me Scrooge on top of it too. I think the last time I enjoyed Christmas I was 12. I should start drinking now and just not stop until we're well into January...

What's for Dinner?

I have been very diligent over the past week to watch my calories and get to the gym. I'm really trying to focus more on me and my health. It hit me a couple weeks ago when I turned 35 (gasp) that I really need to get it together. But tonight...tonight there is nothing I want more than my mom's fried chicken and mashed potatoes. So that is what I'm making. I even measured my ingredients for the first time ever so I could post them for you two people that read my blog from time to time. Now I just call this recipe my mom's fried chicken, but my youngest brother calls it Half-Assed Fried Chicken. Why half-assed? Well because I only fried the chicken on the stove top to brown it up and then I finish cooking it in the oven. It still turns out crispy, crunchy and delicious. So here's the cast of characters. WARNING: there is nothing healthy about this recipe at all!

Ingredients:

6 bone in, skin on chicken thighs

3/4 c. of vegetable or other oil of your choice

2 tbsp butter

2 c. all purpose flour

1/2 tsp chili powder

just less than 1 tbsp seasoned salt

1tbsp dried parsley

1/2 tsp paprika

1/2 tsp garlic powder

1/4 tsp poultry seasoning

2 tsp minced onions (dried McCormick brand)

1 tbsp kosher salt

1/2 tsp black pepper

2 eggs whisked with a dash of water

Begin by combining the flour and all of the seasonings. I prefer to use a ziploc type bag and shaking it all together. Rinse your chicken and then place in the flour mixture, a couple pieces at a time, and shake the hell out of it. Once all pieces are coated then place the chicken in the whisked egg mixture and coat each side. Place the chicken back in the flour bag and shake to coat again. While I'm doing these steps I start my oil and butter heating in a pan. I really crank it up to about medium high to get the oil good and hot. Once all the chicken is coated for the second time and the oil is hot then I place a few pieces in at time or if I feel like using my big pan I can usually get all 6 pieces in at once. I leave them to fry on one side for maybe 5-8 minutes and the flip them to brown up the other side. The second side only takes about 5 minutes. Once all the chicken is golden brown and crispy I place them on a baking sheet and popped them into a 350 degree oven for about 20 minutes or 185-200 degrees. YUM!!!

Sanity

Sanity has returned to my house. My last post was me at my wits end. Literally. I let it all out via text message to the Man and I believe he was afraid to come home that night. Long story short, I got over it and my child is my angelic little girl once again. Well maybe not angelic...

So no worries, I haven't gone ape shit and put my kid in a closet for days or anything.

There are days that I desperately wish for nothing more than to be in a quiet room by myself with no family within 100 miles. Preferably, that room would be on a beach with a well stocked bar.

Losing it

i am losing my fucking mind right now. why? because my 7 yr old child has, in the last hour, thrown a fit over cheese, a fit over a toy that she broke, and a fit over a doll. i have HAD IT!! it's been one of those days where the only words out of her mouth is "I NEED". let's keep in mind that any other day she is a completely independent, makes her own snack, plays by herself kind of chick. not today. today it's let's be up mommy's ass all day, day. mommy needs a break. like now.

Six year olds

My Girl is 6. She will be 7 very shortly. The never ending list of things she wants for her birthday keeps getting brought up over dinner. Like I could ever forget it...dolls, razor scooter thingy, zhu zhu pets (yikes?), a four wheeler, the Barbie doll that's a mermaid, some clothes, and pink streaks in her hair are constants. Every now and then she throws something else in there that some kid on the bus had, but for the most part those are the gifts at the top of her list. So here's my thing, I don't feel that a lot of these are worth wasting my money on. A four wheeler is just out of the question because I don't have an extra 600-1000 bucks to drop on her, the zhu zhu pets are just ridiculous, and the Barbie...well let's just say me and Barbie don't get along so well. My Bitter Little Man thinks I'm bitter and stingy about gift giving, but it's really just that I don't want a bunch of crap around my house that's just gonna get chewed by the dog or I'm going to end up picking up 10,000 times a day. Does that make me a bad mom? Maybe it's because I was brought up in a very poor household with 4 children and when it came to birthdays or Christmas is was always very simple. We got one big gift and then usually some little items that we could use (shampoo, conditioner, pens, pencils etc...). There was a lot of sacrificing and compromising. I just feel like even though my husband and I are better off than my parents were it doesn't mean we should just give in to our daughter's every little wish. How will she ever truly appreciate anything? I've been trying to figure out ways to help her appreciate the things we do provide for her. So far...it's not working. How do you get a 6 year old to understand and appreciate what she has? Maybe I'm expecting too much...