A new addition to the mealplan...or not

In my ongoing quest to make our family healthier, I am continuing to try more meatless meals.  I have been a fan of tofu since my stint as a vegetarian in college (and order it every single time I eat at Rumbi's--the orange veggie bowl with tofu over brown rice...Can you say YUM?!)  but had yet to introduce it as part of the meal rotation for the family. 

This morning at Albertsons as I was realizing that the chicken breasts I was stopping to pick up before I had to run to work, were actually on sale at Safeway, a package of tofu caught my eye and I changed our mealplan from a chicken stirfry to a tofu stirfry.  Fast forward to the dinner table.  Gabrielle sticks her fork in a chunk of tofu and says, "Man this chicken is tender."  I give her a funny grin and she says, "What?"
"Well, it's not chicken." I say.  "Oh.  Well what is it?" she asks. "Ummm.  It's a little like soft cheese."

She's looking pretty doubtful by now and says again, "What IS it?"  "It's tofu." I reply.  Meanwhile, Evie has practically cleaned her plate already ("Told you I was starving mom.")

So long story short, Evie and Tyler loved the tofu.  Gabrielle and Dennis voted next time I make their stirfry "the right way", with chicken.  But the good news is the transition from white rice to brown rice was seamless!  And if anyone has an "in" at Rumbi's, I would LOVE the recipe for that orange sauce!

Homonyms

Dennis brought home a hard drive full of AWESOME dance music a few nights ago.  (Come on, you remember "Baby Talk" from Alisha, don't you??!)  So Evie is eating her lunch at the table, and Dennis is dancing along to the music while doing the dishes.  Evie looks at Dennis and says, "Dad, do you like this jam?"  And Dennis, loving that she thinks of our music as "jammin" gets a big grin on his face and says, "Yeah!"  And Evie gets an equally big grin on her face and announces, "It's raspberry!" indicating her peanut butter and jelly sandwich.  HA!

There's an easier way

So driving home from the Pinewood Derby Race tonight, Evie says "do I get to keep my derby car til I'm DEAD???"

Which somehow lead right into:  "I'm gonna get dead before I get married."
To which I responded:   "What? Why are you going to get dead before you get married?"
And of course her answer was:  "Because I don't want to get married." (in a what are you--stupid? kind of a tone)
So I say:  "Evie, if you don't want to get married, you don't have to get married.  You don't have to die to get out of it-you just choose not to do it."  And then:  "Why don't you want to get married?"
Drumroll please.  Her reply:  "Because I don't want to be a mom.  I just want to be an aunt."

Alrighty then...

vegetarian by default?

I have been noticing something odd over the past few weeks, and it seems to be getting worse and worse; I have a real aversion to meat.  I have never been a huge fan of raw meat and have always hated cleaning chicken (which is why I buy boneless/skinless chicken only), but have always managed to just grimace and bear it. 

I have been trying more meatless meals, which of course is not a bad thing in terms of health benefits.  And the kids actually told me they preferred the vegetarian chili to my usual beef chili.  But this morning while cutting open the plastic on a pork loin to throw in the crock pot before work, the smell of the roast was making me nauseous.  But the odd thing was, it really didn't smell.  And the real kicker was, when a commercial came on tv for a new burger that showed a close up of said burger--no idea whose burger the ad was for-- I physically gagged.  At a television picture of a hamburger.  What's up with that?? 

BUSTED!!

I volunteer each Friday morning in Evie's Kindergarten classroom doing whatever the teacher needs me to do that day.  Today it was walk around the classroom while the kids were doing their morning work and help them if they needed it, while the teacher called individual kids up for testing.  One little boy raised his hand and called me over.  I knelt down by his table and he asked me to check his work.  I did, gave him a thumbs up for approval, and was about to stand and walk away when he grinned at me and said "You have gum."

"I do have gum, you're right.  And I'm not supposed to have gum in the classroom, am I?"  I replied.

 His grin got even bigger, as he stated "You ALWAYS have gum.  And it's bubble gum; I can smell it."

I walked over to the trashcan and threw my gum out...

I love this kid

So for no real reason that I can think of, Evie suddenly has begun to state she wants to stay in Kindergarten.  Today as I was trying to get dinner ready, she was whining on the stairs about not EVER going to first grade.  Tyler happened to come down the stairs and overheard her say "What if my new teacher is mean??"  And he sat down next to her and said "I was scared too Evie, but there aren't any mean teachers at our school."  And suddenly all was right in her world and first grade is not such a scary place.  (at least not today).  Thanks buddy  :)

random thoughts

• I could live on stuffing.
• While I have always been fully aware of my control issues during holiday decorating, (which could, btw, be its own blog) today I realized my eldest daughter has them too. Must have been funny watching us each turn something the other had placed, 13 degrees counterclockwise, and slide it 1/4" forward.
• Holidays make me more emotional than usual. The first 3 newspaper articles I read yesterday all made me cry. Yes, I finally did put the paper down and walk away.
• I am very blessed to be so excited that I will have family visiting all month. More than just a few people have given me the you-poor-thing-knowing look when I mention it. I can't wait!
• We are very lucky that I sell PartyLite. If I did not, not only would Dennis be annoyed at how many candles we have, but he would be ticked at how much they cost us, because as I walk through the Iced Snowberries and into the Cinnamon and Bayberry I realize I am not willing to give those up. Our house smells yummy.
• The house is much quieter when 1 child is at a playdate. And it doesn't matter which child; one has to be gone and there is magically, very little fighting.
• Folding fitted sheets is NOT a genetically inherited trait. My mother's folded fitted sheets are perfectly square and flat. Mine have odd corners jutting out and are lumpy little rectangles, which cause the pile of sheets to tip to one side.
• I LOVE wrapping up in one of the many hand knit, crocheted, and quilted blankets we have received from our very artistic, crafty, handy family.
• Speaking of handy, I love that my husband is just that. Fixes, builds, designs, draws, paints...
• I know better than to have caffeine after 4pm. Hence this post of rambling nothingness when I have a birthday party with six 10 and 11 year olds tomorrow...er today.