Second Time is a Charm

I am happy to report we are fully functional on laundry. I only write these words after successfully completing two loads of laundry in our new washer/dryer. Of course, I am still learning how to use these appliances, but the sanitization feature on the washer is being tested on "unket". (Confession: I bought this washer because of "unket" and my sanitization requirement with that icky, little blanket.)

One difference between this set and the old set: The wash cycle is now longer than the dry cycle. This is a whole new concept for me. I am used to 20 minutes in the washer and 1 hour + in the dryer. Now it is an 1 hour in the washer (sanitization takes over 2 hours) and 45 minutes in the dryer. I tell you, this is big. Oh the excitement of a new washer and dryer.

When the laundry filled the house

You know, when the dryer broke right before our camping trip, I knew it was the beginning of something very bad. The expense, the time invested shopping with the kids, the lack of available laundry facilities...none of the implications of a broken dryer were good. Well, I am officially one week and one camping trip without a functioning laundry room, and my predictions have all come true.

We did order a new washer and dryer set up on Tuesday. The Magster slept through the whole order process, bless her, and the whole order/ purchase/ delivery set up took maybe an hour. The washer and dryer would be here today.

The delivery company called this afternoon and asked if they could deliver early. Wahoo! I was planning to have laundry underway by 4pm. The dryer hook up went smoothly, it fit perfectly and looked quite spiffy. In came the washer a few minutes later, it fit snuggly next to its mate. My laundry room has never looked so good. I am dreaming of sorting clothes as the delivery man starts the demonstration of my new washer. Disaster. The washer makes a noise, that even I can tell isn't right. The delivery man pulls out the washer, checks the connections and tries again. The noise is back. The new washer is removed and another washer is promised on Friday.

While in the big scheme of life this is just an inconvenience, BUT today this is a semi-disaster. This means two more days without laundry. That means we will go 2 full weeks without completing laundry. I may never get current on laundry again! I will be doing laundry until La Nina starts Kindergarten to catch up. Sears just doesn't understand the critical nature of laundry in a household that consists of one kid and one Magster! This is bad. Very bad.

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If you are interested, the pictures of Maggie pitching a fit over Unket's last washing are posted. Our old washer and dryer are in the photos, may they rest in peace.

The Magster likes camping!

The girls playing in the field around the camp

The girls playing in front of our new tent, in a sea of tents

Camping Season Off to a Grand Start

This weekend was the Annual FCC Northern California Camp Out in Olema. For those not familiar, FCC stands for Families with Children from China, it is an organization for families who have adopted from China.

The FCC Campout is the perfect first camp out of the year. The camp ground is very nice. We camp on a grassy field surrounded by trees. The camp sites surround a lawn area and there are enough FCC families to completely encircle the lawn. With this group, we know every family camping in our area has passed a comprehensive background check with both the State and Federal government. In the center of the camping ring, some of the older girls set up their own mini-parent-free tent area. There is also a small soccer field, lots of bubbles, frisbees, volleyball and even a little whiffle ball.

Of the over 200 participants, 100 campers are kids ranging in age from 1 to 13, the vast majority girls adopted by China and a few home grown siblings. The girls form maurading packs by age that roam the campgrounds on foot and bikes. The pack under 5 tend to have a parent in tow, but over 5 it is just girls. You never know when a pack will pass through your camp site, but it is never a problem. Their arrival is announced with a squeal and their departure is a gust of giggle-laced wind.

During the day, there is a woman who brings music to the young campers. She plays guitar and sings songs in English and Mandarin. The girls gleefully sing and dance along, many proudly showing off their knowledge of a second language.

Nights are for campfires, s'mores and the occasional screaming child. I am happy to report none of those screaming children were in our tent this year. La Nina slept like a champ. This year, La Nina proved to be a very patient marshmellow roaster, producing perfect roasted brown marshmellows time after time. She quickly figured out the secret of s'mores: As I built her one, she informed me I could keep the marshmellow and graham cracker, she only wanted the chocolate. Despite the fact I cut off the chocolate after a couple of pieces, she kept roasting marshmellows for other kids. She was really good at it.

The Magster was the magster. She took two completely dramatic spills, cried a little and went right back at it. Our camping mates found her antics highly amusing..thank goodness. This was the Magster's first camp out. She did great. She even made a mid-night potty run with me: I knew there was no leaving the tent without her.

The only real problem we had: Both kids refused to sleep in their sleeping bags and were cold...you can lead a horse to water... All in all, we had a great time. This is the second year we attended and we hope to go for many years to come.

Etc, Etc, Etc...

For the record:

Dryers that are 16 years old experience an accelerated death when used to support a family of 4. And I always thought the washer would go first.

One should never substitute Rice Flour for Wheat Flour in Pumpkin Muffins. Trust me, the disposal won't even take the batter.

Socks and Sippy Cups disappear very quickly around a house with two kids. Where do they go?
Life without reality TV means more time to read and write. I must confess that I miss the Amazing Race and Survivor.

Two Gourmade Meals, two successes... we could be hooked.

Rain in June, whodathunk?

A Day Off

I took the day off from parenthood yesterday. Well, sort of. You know, once you become a parent, there are no real days off. But, at least I didn't have to haul a child around with me while I ran errands. On my day off I did go for a hike and have lunch with a friend. Otherwise, it was nothing but errands.

One of the things I did was try out one of those pre-fab dinner places. At this place, you register on line, select 6 meals from a menu, make an appointment, then show up and assemble the meals. The meals are easily frozen, so that you can eat the meals as needed. I have always been intrigued by this concept as cooking dinner is a tough assignment with my kids. It seems like everytime I pick up a knife to chop something, a child tries to climb up my leg. And I really hate feeding all of us CostCo frozen meals.

I selected options like Thai Chicken Skewers, Savory Flank Steaks, Louisiana Rice and Beans, Greek Chicken and Marinated Pork Loin. The assembly portion of the meal experience only took me a little over an hour. I loved the fact ingredients I would use only once, like Coconut Milk and Cilantro, were provided for me--less waste. Plus, I could easily avoid wheat and seafood, with my selections and on-site substitutions.

Tonight we ate our first pre-fab meal, well we could only eat half of it, the portions were so generous. (It looks like my six meals will be closer to 12 meals for us.) It was fantastic. To me, the proof of this concept will work if the food is good and if we get more than one meal out of each portion. With one night down, this could be a winner.

The Quiet Explained

Sorry I have been a bit quiet on the old blog. The Dad was out of town fly fishing in Montana for four days...isn't that nice for him. Then he needed a day to "recover" from his vacation. It must be so difficult to have fun for four days. I don't know how he did it.

It seemed like the weekend would offer all sorts of material, but it really didn't. The only issue we had was a classic kid plumbing problem. Before the Dad even arrived in Montana, one of our toilets was rendered useless. While La Nina was using the facility, the Magster decided to "help" her by putting an entire roll of toilet paper into the toilet. When La Nina flushed the toilet, I heard a very strange sound and saw La Nina run out of the bathroom. La Nina put her hands on her hips and stated, "The toilet's spilling everywhere and I didn't do it, Mom." Had the Dad been home it would have be quite funny, but things like this are rather humorless when you are single parenting. Nothing like plunging a toilet 5 hours into 4 days alone with the kids. The good news is I resolved the problem. The bad news is the Magster is still obsessed with toilet paper.

I write everyday. Sometimes the product of my effort appears here, other times it is for publication. This month writing for publication has been dominating my time. I have submitted 3 stories already this month and still have one to go before July 1st. I am getting much quicker at my articles, but I still spend more time than I should fiddling with them. So, my blog friends, my apologies for the quiet. But don't be surprised if it continues for a few more days.

Unket???

Unnnnkettt!!!

Washing Unket

Trauma of all traumas for Maggie today: We had to wash her beloved "uuket" (aka blanket). I usually try to wash it at night, but lately she has been sleeping with the blanket snaked around her body and I haven't had a chance. This morning, before we left for the park, I noticed a peculiar smell eminating from Maggie's direction. I knew it wasn't her diaper, and since she is rarely without unket...I was immediately suspicious she had again used unket to wipe up some milk that was beginning to sour. I had no choice. La Nina and I would have to suffer the wrath of Maggie for cleanliness sake.

I started a load of kids clothes in the washer, grabbed surrogate blanket and tracked Maggie and unket down in the family room playing blocks. I casually picked up unket, dropped the replacement blanket and made a break for the laundry room. In my dust, there was an eruption of wailing that could wake the dead. Maggie was hot on my tail by the time I reached the laundry room and saw me throw unket into the washer. I tried lifting her up to show her the washer. I tried explaining unket was just taking a bath. I tried to comfort her, La Nina even offered up her blanket. The wailing just grew louder. She stood sobbing pathetically, "unket, unket, ketttttttt" and pointing at the mouth of the beast that had just eaten her beloved friend. In frustration, Maggie eventually collapsed on the floor in a puddle of tears. (Expecting such drama--I actually snapped pictures of the whole scene--we will post them later).

Knowing my daughter as I do, I know sugar can solve most any problem with Maggie, so I offered her a cookie. True to form, when she heard the word "cookie" she picked up La Nina's blanket, wiped her eyes, shot me a disgusted look and stalked off to the kitchen for her consolation cookie. After eating her wheat-free cookie in one bite, she returned to the laundry room and held vigil over the washer until we left for the park. After I put my dejected todder in the car, I hurriedly moved the now laundered clothes into the drier, so unket would be clean by the time we returned home.

As it happened, Maggie had a great time at the park and only uttered one very pathetic, "unket" as I loaded her in the van to come home. She was exhausted and managed to fall asleep even without her blankie. When we got home, I put her in her crib, retrieved a clean, fresh smelling unket from the drier and placed it gently next to her. Without opening her eyes, her chubby little fist gripped the familiar blanket to her chest and she rolled over to cuddle it in her sleep.

More articles published...

For those of you who aren't in the area, but want to follow my attempt at a writing career, here are a couple of links to work I had published today.

In the Pleasanton Weekly, I wrote the story Standout Seniors. It is an article featuring a couple of local kids who overcame a challenge to graduate.

http://www.pleasantonweekly.com/index.shtml

In the Danville Weekly, I wrote the story Double the Fun in the Living Section. It is about a local Mother of Twins Club.

http://www.danvilleweekly.com/

I may have taken on a little too much writing this month, but it is such a wonderful distraction to the monotony of motherhood. Now if I could just get this kids naps coordinated, I might be able to start that book....

Me and the Rat

There is something you should know about me: I hate Chuck E. Cheese. Loathe it. It is my version of Dante's Hell...and a very base one. My reasons are many: It is loud. It is expensive. The food is bad. Just the whole experience is not for me. Fairyland, Disneyland, Happy Hollow, the zoo: I love them all, but Chuck E. Cheese is part of the parenting experience I could do without.

I am so committed to avoiding the place that I will skip a party and send a gift anytime a party is held at Chuck E. Cheese. But this week, all of my escape tactics failed me and I landed in Rat Hell twice. We had two unavoidable commitments at Chuck E. Cheese. Why? Well, the rain in Northern California forced two birthday parties that I alreadyRSVP'd to indoors, and there was no backing out. Unfortunately, both parents selected the Mouse House as Plan B.

So, there I was a relunctant participant in not one but two Chuck E. Cheese (CEC) parties in two days. Yesterday, I tried to be optimistic. I told myself..."You know they have remodeled. It is supposed to be cleaner and the food is supposed to be better." In 20 minutes, I realized that my optimism was ridiculous. Nothing has changed. The place is a nightmare.

However, to experience the true inferno horror of CEC, you need to take my two kids alone to CEC and try to keep track of them...both of them. And Maggie is fast. Very fast. And La Nina doesn't listen. Ever. The good news is I survived. Good luck to the next poor soul who takes them. But it won't be me again. It wasn't worth it.

Now that I am on the topic of food...

You know, I haven't really whined much about the wheat allergy thing. But the reason for my lack of whining: It hasn't been that big of a deal.

The worst part of Maggie's allergy is combined with her Dad's allergies, the list of foods we can eat is very narrow. I fugure once people hear the list of food restrictions, we will never be invited out to eat again. I am getting such a complex about the whole allergy thing that I want to cry out: "I have no allergies", because I don't and I am trapped in an allergists dream house.

These days, a wheat allergy isn't a horrible allergy to manage. Now that I am getting the hang of it, I am amazed at the selection of foods I find at Whole Foods. (I prefer Whole Foods to Trader Joe's, because it has more selection and a great cabbage crunch salad in the Deli.)

Here are a few of the wheat free items I highly recommend.

• Rice Crackers. Everyone in the family loves them. They have a really crisp texture and hit the salty craving. We go through boxes of them.
• Rice based spaghetti noodles are passable. In fact, the Magster ate two helpings for dinner last night. It was quite impressive.
• Tonight we ate homemade Macaroni and Cheese made with Quinoa Elbows and with Rice Bread crumbs on top. It was a hit.
• Buckwheat Waffles are fabulous. It is hard to keep Dad from eating them.
  
• Kix cereal has very little wheat (well, the wheat there is doesn't bother Maggie), but also there is a whole line of gluten-free kids cereal at Raley's that is great.
• There are "No-Wheat" cookies by Nona's that are pretty darn good, and a bunch of health bars for kids that are wheat-free.
  

Beyond this, it has slowly dawned on me how many foods are just naturally wheat-free. Applesauce, yogurts, meat, rice, vegetables, fruit, (not that Maggie will eat Vegetables or Fruit, but they are wheat-free) milk, eggs, oatmeal, tofu, popcorn, jello, ice cream, cheeses, quinoa, rice crispy treats.

While it is a bummer that Maggie needs to avoid wheat in order to enjoy the occasional piece of cake, for me, the only impact has been it requires an extra grocery trip a week to Whole Foods. That and the fact it takes forever to shop because I am always reading the labels. Now that can be painful with two kids, but that is another story.

The Food Bill

Recently, it seems our food bill has sky-rocketed. As the chief chef, meal planner and shopper, I have been feeling quite the failure of late in this department. However, last weekend, we started talking about food costs and I had a realization: Our food costs are reflecting all the life changes we have had lately. Here are the changes that I can think of that have driven up the grocery bill:

• We don't go out to eat anymore. Dining out is absolutely painful with two little ones.
• I am home for breakfast and lunch everyday. No more lunches out for me, no more breakfast meetings either. No wonder I go through so many bagels in the morning.
• La Nina is home for lunch 5 days a week now. This explains the peanut butter and jelly consumption.
• Of course, there is Maggie's wheat sensitivity that means we now need to stock two types of pasta, crackers and cookies.

No wonder it seems like all I do is spend money on groceries. No wonder every shopping trip is more than I expect it to be. No wonder I am always out of something. It sounds funny but I never really stopped to think about why the grocery spending went up, but I certainly noticed the increase. The good news is it is truly cheaper to eat at home than it is to eat out. It's a good thing we don't live closer to Whole Foods.

Mommy, Why are there no pictures of us?

A letter to my daughters....

My Darling Sweet Angel Children:

I know someday you are going to look through your childhood photos and wonder, "Why are there so few professional pictures of us as young children?" Well, my little darlings, I tried to have professional pictures taken of you when you were little, but the truth is it was always a harrowing experience.

I talked your Nana and Papa into coming to the mall with me to help take pictures the afternoon of June 2nd. Past experience had taught me that going it alone was no good, so I figured if we had you out numbered 3 to 2, that perhaps your cooperation would be more easily gained. After buying special matching dresses and ensuring you were cleaned up, we headed to the mall for a picture taking session.

The session started with you, La Nina, insisting on a blue background, because blue is your favorite color. Magster, you refused to leave my arms for the first 20 minutes in the studio. In fact, you were burying your head in my shoulder for most of that first 20 minutes making any photo impossible. At this point, the first photographer fled the scene. I have to admit, it was wise. Magster, you were glaring at this poor man for the entire first half of the photo shoot. So when the new woman came into help, I breathed a small sigh of relief.

La Nina, you were clearly inspired by the lovely blue background. In fact, you insisted on demonstrating your flexibility to the camera. While it is very impressive that you can put your head on the ground without bending your knees, this position doesn't make a good picture. Really, honey, we loved your Cinderella panties, but we didn't want a picture of them. When we finally offered you an entire viewing of Cinderella, stickers and a cookie, you somewhat cooperated, but that is if you use the word cooperation very loosely. Magster, you will notice your 18-month picture is a head shot. You never did leave my arms for an individual picture. I was still holding you when the shot was snapped. It was the only way it would work.

The picture of the two of you sitting with your backs together in matching dresses on a blue background was pure luck. The woman photographer shot it in the 2 minutes when you both chose to cooperate. I suppose we were lucky that those two minutes were concurrent, not simultaneous, like so many of your naps.

So, my darlings, I, too, mourn the loss of professional pictures of your childhood. But the real reason you see so few professional photos of yourselves as young children is your mother didn't have the nerve to attempt it more than once a year.

Your Loving Mother