6710 Grand

 It’s the question I hate, and yet, it is asked of me at least 4 times a day.  What’s for dinner? Why does it bother me so much?   I think it’s because I hear it more than anything else.   Hi mom, what’s for dinner?   Where’s mom?   What’s for dinner?   Is mom down there? What’s for dinner? I’m reduced to a single purpose—feed the hungries.   And I know I’m so much more.   Sometimes, I fantasize about being simply, not available.   No food in the house.   Nothing is for dinner.   Someone else needs to answer that question. I realize my hatred of this question is irrational and impractical.   I am the only one who can answer the question.   Afterall, I plan the weekly meals, do all of the grocery shopping and cooking.   Dinner is my jam! Yet, I still can not stand being asked.   So, how can I avoid the question? A dry erase board.   I bought one specifically for this purpose.   It has th...

I've been drinking Isagenix shakes.  I'm not sure yet if I really like them.  Sometimes I just can't stand the thought of another protein shake and sometimes, a pumpkin spice frappuccino sounds really good and I know I have a healthy version I can make with this magical powder.  I've lost a decent amount of weight and that's with putting in a modest effort because, let's face it, life is nuts.  Sometimes this helps me stay on track.  It's one of those "make it work for you" things too.  It's a two shake a day plan but sometimes I need a season of one.  Sometimes the intermittent fasting days just don't work in my schedule. Sometimes I have more donor meetings in a week than I'd like to and I really need a recover week.  And then there's the daily nuts of being a working mom of 3 kids with a spouse that travels.  No, I don't have time to mix up a shake in the morning because I'm already late getting out the door when Isabel...

The girls and I have a new hobby--we started watching cooking competition shows and especially love Worst Cooks in America.  The girls and I bake a lot so they have learned a thing or two about cooking.  Ivy has been baking cookies with me since she could hold her head up.  I would literally put her in the Bumbo on the kitchen counter when she was about 6 months old.  She even managed to sneak an entire cookie worth of raw dough once when I wasn't looking (bad mom, I know). It's something we started doing on nights when Nick is gone.  We eat dinner in front of the TV, watch an episode and have fun laughing at the bizarre kitchen antics of horrible cooks.  It's fun, it's silly and it's something they'll remember when they have families of their own.  These are the memories we're making. Well. On all of these shows we watch, contestants inevitably are asked to make a signature dish.  Whenever this happens, the conversation always turns to what...

Nick and I have been talking about taking an adventure.  Nothing too exciting—we are about to have a baby.  We thought maybe a cruise would be fun and that the girls would like it.  It’s easier than going to China and if we do it right, no one needs a passport.  As we dream up the ideal vacation, I could not help but be reminded of our first (and only) cruise.  It was the fall of 2002 and Nick’s parents were taking their family, including Grandma Olson on a cruise to Mexico over Christmas.  There was room for me so I was invited to share Grandma’s stateroom.  All I had to do was get to San Diego.  No problem!  There are so many great things about a cruise but perhaps my favorite was the food.  It was all-inclusive so you really could eat anything at any time.  My first experience with the lunch buffet was a gorge-fest which I can at least partially blame on the insane diet I had been on for the past several months which helped ...

Um, yeah, that whole giving up coffee thing? Not happening. What can I say--I missed my morning java...and my afternoon java...and my evening java..and all of the other times of day when I gotta have my java. It wasn't so much an addictive thing--I've said before that I'm not addicted to coffee and I hold fast to that. I just LOVE the STUFF! I made it through October with not so much as a Gloria Jeans until Halloween. We took Ivy to the mall for trick-or-treating and there it was--Holiday flavored coffee (yes, that's right, it tastes like a holiday!). Then there was the peppermint mocha Coffee Mate, and the Starbucks white peppermint mocha--what's a girl to do? I gave in. I actually missed being the crazy coffee person. Shockingly, I did NOT win the award for person who drinks the most coffee at the Make-A-Wish holiday party. I guess I'm not that well known yet. (I totally drink more coffee than Marcia!) Still, the prize was a can of GASP! Maxwell House. Kinda ...

My Great Aunt Maureen makes an amazing potato dish that she (or someone) always brings to family functions. We call them Aunt Maureen’s Potatoes. (Clever, huh?) I’ve been told that most people refer to them simply as Pot Luck Potatoes. I was actually really disappointed when I heard that. It made them sound generic. Like anyone could make them. I prefer to think of them as something exclusive to the Schleicher/Wirtel family (and now, a select few Olsons). We’re the only one’s who can make them because we’re the only ones with Aunt Maureen…and we’re not letting anyone else have her! The secret recipe will pass from family to family, continuing on the tradition. You can only marry into the family and therefore, learn the secret. You may come to a family gathering as a guest and get to sample the famed potatoes, but don’t ask for the recipe. We’re not telling. You may wonder how to get those crumbly crumbles on top to brown just right and not burn, or how the potatoes stay so white and s...