I'd like about 5 more hours in a day, thankyouverymuch

No really, I would.

I need more hours in a day.

I need my days to be about 29 hours.
Give or take an hour or two.

I have found that I don't have enough time to get things done.

Case in point - my laundry from last week is still sitting in a pile on my hope chest in my bedroom. My laundry from this week? It is in the laundry basket in the laundry room.

Yes, I realize that this is horrid housekeeping and I make no excuses. Other than, I run out of time every single day. I feel accomplished when I get Olivia's and Emma's laundry hung up and folded for the week. (And on the weeks I don't 'accomplish' that, it all goes back in the wash. With that week's "new" dirty clothes.)

Oh my gosh.
I'm totally airing my dirty laundry.
Right here.
On my blog.

Oh crap.

So there you have it.
I suck at laundry.
I'm a horrible housekeeper apparently.
It appears that my kids are lucky to have clean clothes every week.

While I'm confessing, I might as well address dinner.
I made pancakes for dinner on Monday.
And then on Tuesday we had take out.
And on Thursday we had Little Caesar's 'hot and ready' pizza.
Because I didn't want to cook.

Wow.
Apparently I also suck at the whole 'cooking for my family' thing too.

I realize I had SO MUCH MORE time to do everything I needed to do (laundry, cooking, washing the hardwood floors, watering my flowers) when I wasn't working. And it's not like The Job is a full-time gig either. I'm only at the office 24 (very long, tedious, horrid) hours every week.

That gives me two days a week when I DO have time to get stuff done.
But it seems there is always MORE to get done.
More laundry.
More cooking.
More paying the bills
More Swiffering dog hair off the hardwood floors. (Every. Single. Day.)

And quite frankly, I'm tired.
Very tired.*
And no, I don't want to fold laundry at 8 o'clock at night.

I used to have the whole bill paying thing on a schedule.
I have been a bit forgetful lately.
I've had to pay some bills online at the last minute because I FORGOT to mail them in time.
Don't even get me started on this blog.
Dear blog, I am so sorry for neglecting you. For an entire week.

Holy crow.

I am a train wreck.
I'm unorganized.
I'm stressed.
I've got more gray hair than ever before.
My day planner needs a day planner.

I think I need to relax.
Breathe.
Calm down.
And realize that I am NOT supermom.
Nor will I ever be supermom.
Sometimes the laundry won't get folded. And we will have breakfast for dinner.
And I might even skip a day of Swiffering. Maybe.
I can't do it all.

But, Olivia told me today that I'm "the best mom ever" and well, that's good enough for me.
Laundry be damned.


*And no, I am not asking for sympathy here. I'm merely venting. On my blog. That's it. Nothing more. Nothing less.

Freschetta Flatbread Pizza ... yummy!

This is a Sponsored Post written by me on behalf of Freschetta. All opinions are 100% mine.

I will be the first to admit that I (1) don't often buy frozen pizza and (2) am not a huge fan of most frozen pizzas. Most of my 'avoidance' of frozen pizzas is because, for the most part, they are seriously lacking in the 'topping department'. Whenever I do buy a frozen pizza, I end up adding more cheese (always!) and usually extra toppings too -- just because there is never enough of either.

However...I have to say...I have found a frozen pizza that doesn't need anything extra -- it's quite yummy "as is"...

And the 'winner' is...Freschetta FlatBread .

There are four flavors of the flatbread pizza (Cheese, Zesty Italian, Roasted Garlic and Spinach, and Pepperoni)...but since my store ONLY carried two of the four flavors, I decided to try the Roasted Garlic and Spinach.

It did not disappoint!

I really like the pizza for several reasons - the crust was really crispy, it cooked quickly (I think it only took about 9 minutes, maybe less -- my husband actually cooked it because I was running late at work!), and most importantly...I didn't have to add anything to it! It was a perfect amount of cheese and toppings.

I might need to stock up on the flatbread pizzas...they make a great, quick meal.
(You know, perfect for those nights when you really don't want to cook! If you're anything like me, that happens at LEAST once a week!).

If you want to try them for yourself, you can grab a $1 off coupon here.

Happy pizza night!

Supermom I am not

I managed to make beef jerky tonight.
It wasn't on purpose.
And it wasn't made out of beef.

Here's the back story....

This morning I put spare ribs in the crock pot.
I seasoned them.
I added a little H20 just so they didn't dry out.
And I turned on the crock pot and left for work.

Eight hours later as I'm driving home, I think to myself "Holeeee CRAP! I think it's possible that I turned the crock pot on "high" instead of "low!" Then I started to panic. Ohmygosh! What if the crock pot really was on HIGH and it caught fire and my kitchen was smoldering as I drove home?

I walked in the door and the smell hit me.
Overcooked pork ribs.
For the record, they smell a lot like burned tuna.
It is most unpleasant.

I took the lid off the crock pot and was met with a cloud of smoke.
And then I saw them...those poor, sad, overcooked ribs.
They were nearly petrified.
It was like beef jerky from 10,000 B.C.

I called Kevin and told him it was necessary to stop at Little Caesar's and pick up a few 'hot and now' pizzas.

When he came home, he looked at the "meat" and said "Hmm. They look a little crisp."

Crisp.
Yeah. And then some.

And so there it is....how I managed to make petrified beef jerky out of pork spare ribs.

Moral of the story?
When in doubt, grab a hot and now pizza and call it a night.

Parmesan Chicken - The Results Show

The prep.

The cooking.

The finished product - overhead view.

And, another view.

Overall, I think the "Parmesan Chicken Experiment" was a success. My husband LOVED it. He ate two helpings. And the kids liked it too (they were served the chicken minus the mixed greens. I know, I know...but the whole lemon/olive oil vinaigrette wasn't something they'd enjoy.)

Check out the photo on the post below....I think my version looks OK -- it might not be as "neat" as Ina's...but I don't have a food stylist to make mine look perfect.

This recipe will certainly be added to my 'arsenal'.

Parmesan chicken....it's what's for dinner (tomorrow)

Remember a few posts ago, when I lamented about how much I dislike cooking dinner?

Well, for the most part that still holds true. But I'm trying to change my outlook -- you know, be more positive about cooking dinner.

And so, tomorrow night I'm making Parmesan Chicken - from a recipe by Ina Garten (a.k.a. the Barefoot Contessa on Food Network).

That picture up there...yeah, that's what the chicken is SUPPOSED to look like when prepared. We'll see if that's how mine looks...I'll post a photo tomorrow.

For the recipe...go here.

Born to shop, forced to cook

Yes, I 'borrowed' the title of this post from a magnet on my refrigerator*.

But it is SO true. Born to shop. Forced to cook.

If given the choice between shopping and cooking....I will always pick shopping.

I find walking aimlessly through Target to be oddly therapeutic. (I really believe that they pipe something through the air vents in Target that causes us to all be addicted to that red bullseye).

Cooking? Not so much. I love to bake - cookies, muffins, cakes (no pies). But cooking dinner? Gah. It is one of my least favorite things to do right now (right after laundry).

When I was a single gal....I often just ate a bowl of cereal for dinner. Not very nutritional, but I was young (and thinner!)...I wasn't so concerned with nutrition.

Now, as a mom....I suppose it's necessary to feed my kids a good dinner every night. But most of the time, I just dread cooking dinner.

Perhaps it's because it seems as though I'm ALWAYS cooking the same things. Or maybe it's because the only things my kids want to eat are (1) buttered noodles, (2) chicken nuggets or (3) waffles.

I have an entire shelf in my pantry dedicated to cookbooks. Rachel Ray, Emeril Lagasse, and Betty Crocker have all taken up residence in the pantry....and are currently collecting dust.

I make a 'resolution' every year that THIS is going to be the year that I'll break out a cookbook every week and make something NEW and EXCITING! And then, by the second week of January we're back to the same 'ol boring stuff.

I guess now that I'm a SAHM (again), I have no excuse to NOT be creative at dinner time. Maybe now is the time to start using those cookbooks and stop dreaming of having my own personal chef. And maybe we'll even use our wedding china once a week (yet another 'resolution' that I never keep).


*Did you ever wonder why there is no "d" in refrigerator, but there IS a "d" in 'fridge'? No? Well, now you know how I occupy my time. I think about silly, stupid things like that. ;)

Perhaps Mommy needs a time out?

I just described [to my sister] what I'm cooking for dinner tonight:
"I'm throwing some noodles in a pan and some sauce in a pan and darn it, they're gonna like it."

I'm tired of cooking. I hate cooking sometimes. It seems as though I'm cooking the same things all the time (except for last Friday night when I made homemade Buffalo chicken strips, a la Rachel Ray). I need a cooking time out. For about a month. Or five.

So tonight, it's a Prego spaghetti night. Noodles, sauce, garlic bread. No meat sauce, no extra mushrooms. Nada.

So much for 'mother of the year' for this time around.