London Calling

Comfort Food

My husband is a big fan of comfort food. He makes great chili, mac & cheese, meatloaf and even that yummy velveta cheese dip. Tonight he had a craving for shepard's pie. And while it looked very pretty and I'm sure that London will enjoy, it's still a little too "comfort" for me. All I can think about is sitting on the couch watching T.V. and rubbying my belly. I guess that's why they call it "comfort food." (Emily liked the smell and begged with her eyes throughout the meal.)

Working Mom: How did I do it?

In between spa appointments and extra love time with the family, I've been running around doing lots of day-to-day things:  getting the car fixed, laundry, household fix-ups.  All of this in addition to packing away misc. items before we rehab our kitchen.  My day is full from 7a to 11p.

When I worked from 7a-6p, how did I do it?  How did I squeeze all of this stuff into 5 hours at night?

6a - baby time
7a - work
6p - baby time
7p - work out
8p - dinner, email, online banking, etc.
9p - a load of laundry and a little time talking with the husband

Weekends -- freakout because the house looked like hell partnered with socializing with friends/family.

So what's the secret to a "successful" mix of work & family?  I have no idea but I do know that great childcare and someone who cleans your house is a must.  Help from a spouse and family is also important.  So chop off about $30k from your salary to cover those expenses.  Is it worth it?  I think so.  I know that I'm a better mom when I work and that every minute I spend with my son is precious.  When I'm home full time, I feel like my attention is scattered and that I get overwhelmed easily. 

For a while I was taking off Fridays to spend with London.  That was really the best mix for me.  A day dedicated to my son plus a weekend for all of the family and grown-up career time Monday - Thursday.  Wouldn't it be wonderful if we could all have the option of a shorter week?  Then maybe the working mom/stay at home mom question wouldn't be so much of a challenge. 

Pretty Lady; Pretty City

When I shared the news with co-workers that I'd be moving on to a less stressful way of life (aka a new job) and, better, taking a month long sabatical, I heard a lot of, "A month! How great!" And, just a week and a half into it, I have to say that a sabatical is really great.

One friend passed along a link to Pretty City. As part of National Heart Month, they partnered with a number of spas to offer $59 special packages ending February 15th. So what's better than a month long sabatical? One with a few cheap spa packages included.

Lisa's lovely schedule:

• Week One: Manicure/Pedicure at Pinky Nail (not on the list, but very much needed)
• Week Two: Results Focused Facial at Michael Anthony and maybe a Sugar & Spice package from Spa Soak. I should probably get a hair cut too since I'm still recovering from my horrible passport photo. I'm also considering signing up for beginners yoga at Nature Yoga on Friday nights. As a runner -- who fails to properly stretch -- I'm oh so not flexible and feel a little strange that my husband can do the splits and I can hardly touch my toes.
• Week Three: Belize vacation
• Week Four: Ah, the possibilities are endless.

Still -- all of this relaxing is mixed with getting our house ready to sell (packing up misc. stuff, planning a kitchen remodel), spending lots more time with baby & running my buns off -- literally, I'm running and my buns are getting smaller.  I may need to add a Brazilian butt lift to the mix. I'm really hoping that my "stress belly" will soon follow.

A day dedicated to a passport

I learned a few things today:

(1) I am way too old to leave the house without makeup.
(2) My brain has turned to mush. If I don't write it down, I won't remember.
(3) Our little guy, although stubborn, can be really sweet even when he's skipped naps.

Our whole disasterous day began -- actually yesterday -- when I realized that I'd misplaced London's birth certificate which turned into a fight with the hubby about all kinds of things not related to passports. This morning, I hopped on the el and went the county building to get a new copy of his birth certificate. Oddly, there was no line. Sadly, my wallet was at home.

London & Barry joined me on my second attempt at getting a new birth certificate. Since Murphy's Law is such a big part of my life, the line was quite long. And taking a stroller from the el to county building is just silly. Anyone using a wheelchair or stroller has to go through hoops to get anywhere. We literally had to take 3 elevators to get out of the train station.

Another long line at the passport office, but I was hopeful ... until I found out that my passport update to reflect my new married name required a new picture. And that's when I learned that I should never leave the house without makeup. For the next 10 years, my passport will reflect a frazzled middle-aged mom at the end of her rope.

Through the cold weather and skipped naps and missing sippy cup (mommy forgot it), London was a peach. He sang and giggled and flirted. (The people in the passport office may not have realized that he was singing, but I knew.)

Operation passport was a success and I will pick up our new passports tomorrow afternoon just in time for our big trip on Sunday. Now this frazzled mommy is enjoying leftover risotto before relaxing in a hot bath until my fingers prune.

Wine Corker & Libertyville

We were out in Libertyville on Thursday scouting out the neighborhoods and looking at my dream house. Most importantly, we were there to let Barry see the town and "buy in" on the move. He's already agreed to make the big transition from the city, but I'd like it if he were excited about where we are going. There are a few nice restaurants, bars and shops in the downtown & we'd need to buy something staggering distance from there -- and the commuter train -- to make the transition less painful. The idea of a subdivision of homes where every fourth house is the same is like a nightmare to me after being spoiled by living in such a unique neighborhood. I'm still having a hard time realizing that the hookers and drug dealers are mostly moved out and that the yuppies are here to stay. Oh, yeah, and that I'm a yuppie now too. Who would've thought?

Anyway, back to what is important here. We found a great cooking gadget store that hosts cooking classes and a fancy cheese, snacks and wine shop right next door. I have a feeling that we'll know the owners of these shops by first name within a month of living there. We bought some sea salt and something called a "corker" that makes pouring less messy, aerates and filters. The ladies at the shop even said that you can use it as a stopper and lay the bottle on its side without drips. We were sold. (Plus it was like a buck fifty or something.)

Last night we used it for the first time and were very pleased with the results. If only we could learn to leave a little wine in the bottle to test the "rest on its side" promise.

The Polenta Experiment

On my month sabatical I've decided to spend a little extra energy focusing on better (or maybe more original) food for our little boy. Some ideas are great -- like the meatballs we made last week -- and some aren't so great. Today's experiment with polenta probably rates on the not-so-great scale.

I decided to make the polenta, which was mixed with tuna and peas, into cat face shapes. It was pretty bland and my audience wasn't buying into any of it. We ended up settling for a leftover chicken nugget, a few meatballs, cheese & yogurt. A for effort, but D for the end result. (Oh, and the ears were kind of cooked off, so the whole cat thing kind of melted away.)

Now that London is asleep, I can enjoy some very yummy risotto (cooked by Barry) with a nice Pinot and goat cheese from Olivia's Market in Bucktown.

Little Berry

Fun with food this Sunday morning. Barry's mini-me enjoyed French toast sticks with an egg and LOTS of berries. It was one of those days when we strip him down to his diaper before letting him exit the kitchen. Poor Emily ended up with berries in her fur and our kitchen floor is still a bit sticky. No matter, it was fun for all of us.

Better, London allowed mommy to read a little more from The Happiest Toddler on the Block. I'm not fully buying in on talking like a toddler because I'm afraid that he'll grow up with speach problems. Still, The Happiest Baby on the Block kept us sane even though London would only sleep in a swing until he was 5 months old and God only knows what would happen if we didn't have a pacifier at bed time. Guess we all have our vices.

Nonetheless, I was able to sneak in a five mile run this morning on the treadmill while watching Up at the Villa. I'm only an hour into the movie, but hope to catch up during my next run. Thank God for the DVR -- I'm way too ADD to run staring at a wall that long. If London is anything like his mommy -- we're all in big trouble.