Monday, June 18, 2007

Happy Dawders Day

So we did end up breaking out the paint and construction paper and making Mr. Ashley personalized creations worthy of such a highly esteemed father. It was a total mess and nowhere near as fun as I had hoped it would be. The little kid is wildly enthusiastic about crafts, but is somewhat of a loose cannon. He also had a hard time understanding that our goal was not to paint everything within a 10 foot radius and/or knock the paints over every time I wasn't able to respond with the ninja speed necessary to deter him.



The Big Kid alternated between squishing the paint between his fingers and obsessively washing his hands. He also enjoyed "rinsing" his brush over and over again to make the water cup a different color. Woo-hoo, we know how to party.


As you can see, we ended up making the most kick ass Father's Day cards ever, so it was worth the trouble.

The Big Kid did the butterfly. The inside says:
My favorite things to do with daddy:
-Watch cartoons
-Clean up the grass
-Go on the boat
Why do I love daddy?
I don't know. Because I just do.

The little kid did the footprints and the front says:
I hope to follow in your footsteps. The inside says: Happy Father's Day! Thank you for waking up with me and for giving me baths. I love you!

Mr. Ashley was pretty impressed with our efforts. Unfortunately, the rest of the day was uneventful (read: boring and uncomfortable). We went to my parents' house and hung out with my grandpa and my dad's cousin, whose wife has a difficult time with small talk. For the record, I try to make it pretty easy, we don't even have to talk about anything interesting. However, the conversation would flow a lot better if you asked me some questions or at least elaborated on your one sentence answers.

So I spent the day prying nuggets of conversation out of that lump of flesh and chasing the little kid from room to room while everyone else was busy filling awkward silences and since it was Father's Day I couldn't even put Mr. Ashley in charge of him. I had to get up at least once every 10 minutes, it majorly sucked ass. I left the first possible second that it would be even marginally appropriate to do so.

Today I was very productive. I cleaned up the kitchen and....get ready for it....I cleaned my bathroom!! Toilet and everything!! This was enough accomplishment for one day (it really sucked, it was a good reminder of why I don't do it more often) but I also made an awesome dinner:

Chicken Roll-Ups
6 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1 tub onion and chive cream cheese, softened
6 slices of bacon (or however many chicken breasts you have)
1 stick of butter, softened
Pound each chicken breast until flat
Place 1 and3/4 tbs of cream cheese on each breast, spread approx 1 tbs butter on top of cream cheese. Roll the chicken, wrap the bacon around it, and secure with toothpicks. Top w/ remaining cream cheese.
In shallow glass dish, bake at 375 for 45 minutes. Enjoy!

There are Special Olympics participants that are better cooks than I am. I recently had to call my mom to ask her how to boil a hotdog. I'm not kidding. I pretty much hate food, I hate cooking it, I hate seeing it uncooked, I hate defrosting meat, I hate touching meat, I hate looking at meat, I hate cutting things with knives, I'm scared of the oven and the grill, I don't like the mess, I would just rather not. But lately I've been trying more and more and it hasn't been too bad. Tonight's dinner was easy and delicious and I loved pounding the chicken! I didn't have a mallet so I used a pot. I got a little out of control and broke this bowl from Greece and I'm majorly bummed about that, but I'm trying to let it go and move on.

I also bought $400 worth of J Crew dresses (don't get too excited, I'm a bridesmaid in a wedding and had to order two dresses to see which fits better, I did sneak a pair of flip flops in too though) and I PUT THE LITTLE KID TO SLEEP IN HIS OWN ROOM. This is ginormous and I'm not sure how it will go. First time in almost 10 months. My theory was that I'd clean my room tonight but now I'm really thinking I have done plenty for one day. I also cancelled the pool party playdate tomorrow so I can get more done. Or hang out online.

8 comments:

Deb said...

1. Never order from J.Crew without consulting me first. I have already ordered everything at least once and sent it back (again, at least once) and can protect you from poor purchases.

2. Let me know how that "sleeping in his own room" bit goes. Based on previous exchanges, I suspect our kids were somehow separated at birth (I think they're both yours), and I'm sure your son will react exactly the way mine would if I was brave enough to test him in such a manner.

Hope you get some sleep.

Deb

Unknown said...

Damn Deb, I should have known we would have the same love for buying things online or from catalogs and returning them. How do you feel about the Sophia and Emily dresses in Fresh Tangerine?

The little kid is probably going to be hella-pissed. Luckily we have no baby monitor and I have set a precedent for not being able to hear him in the middle of the night. So there is a chance it won't affect me much, we can hope.

Unknown said...

How do I not day something about the beating of the meat....

I guess I don't..

Anywho.. you put the little one to bed in his crib? Kudos to you! Was he awake or asleep.. I really have to start doing such a thing soon.. I am running out of space in my measly queen size bed..

Deb said...

This is probably best left to email, but you don't have a link to your email address, so you'll just have to decide whether or not you want to publish it. It's not funny.

Anyway...

The Sophia is lovely and very flattering. In fact, I just returned a dark blue one today. Shopping online and returning to the store is the greatest experience. Orders take forever to arrive, and by that time, I don't care about whatever I bought, but I can return things for instant gratification and feel like I'm actually SAVING money! (I don't care if that's not how the math really works. We're talking about my world now.)

Whatever you do, do NOT buy the Playa dress. I spent 2005 pregnant. There's no reason to remind everyone.

Please buy the Emily printed high heels. They are gorgeous in person and COMFORTABLE. I had to return them, because I bought them to go with the Playa.

If you email me, I'll send you the link to my $40 Target purse that looks like a $200 purse. And since it's snobby me carrying it, no one will suspect otherwise.

Monogram Momma said...

Ah, yes. The infamous Chicken roll-up recipe from the BBC. I copied that one too but haven't given it a try.

Unknown said...

Deb, I have the same money saving theory!!! Except I'm not a rich snob like you, so I normally just have to add things to my J. Crew shopping cart knowing I'll never even order them to return them.

The Playa dress looks darling online, but I guess I see what you mean. Those shoes are delicious but it is a beach wedding with a backyard reception, so I'd break my neck AND I have nowhere I'd ever be able to wear them in real life since they don't go with my velour lounge pants.

I'm dying to get into your closet now, Deb. Who knew you were so well dressed?

Deb said...

It's so sad. It used to be men dying to get into our pants. Now we're moms, and we just dye to get into each other's closets.

I miss Loehmann's.

Unknown said...

Deb, we all want the link to the Target bag. I am too lazy to go to BBC and find your email address. If you see this before I muster up the energy, post it here.