Meatloaf Tuesday

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Is that a thing? It was a snowy day here yesterday for the first time this year. The last snow we really had was in November! This winter has been really weird in the northeast. A lot of rain and not a lot of snow at all. Anyway, the kids had no school yesterday, my husband stayed home with them and then my job closed at 11:30 so I went home and made meatloaf.
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I don’t know why I have been craving meatloaf lately and then I got this email for a meatloaf muffin recipe and beef was on sale last week so there you go! This is the recipe I used: https://www.geniuskitchen.com/recipe/meatloaf-muffins-58434
I liked it. My husband really liked it and my kids didn’t care for it at all. I thought it was a little to sweet between the ketchup and BBQ sauce.  I think I will keep looking for another meatloaf recipe. Anyone have one they love?

Going on a mini trip with one child.

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I’ve been meaning to write this for a while and I just haven’t. It popped back up in my mind again with all the stuff surrounding my son and school so here’s something that we did that was great.
I have a husband, son and Daughter. Usually the boys tend to want to stay home and my daughter and I go out shopping. She also likes to help me clean, and cook and we’ll just hang in bed and read. When we go shopping we usually go to a couple stores and she likes to look around and push the cart. My son does not enjoy going to more than one store and even then, he’s on the look out for something for himself. My husband doesn’t really care. He’ll come shopping if we all go, or he can stay home and hang out.
A couple months ago my Son was invited to a birthday party and hour and a half away. This birthday boy is one of his friends from preschool. There are 3 of them and we try to get them together a couple times a year. After preschool we bought a house in Norwalk, one boys parents already lived in Stamford (where the preschool was) and the other boy ended up moving a few years ago to Jersey. Anyway, I said sure! We would go, rent a hotel room and go to the party and then hang out the next morning before heading home. Then my husband could have a daddy daughter day too.
We left on a Saturday morning. I was so anxious driving down there. Honestly, I think it was because we always travel as a unit. There are 4 of us and we travel in a 4 pack. I was on the highway and my chest was fluttering and I just felt so weird leaving the other half of my family. So anxious…  Is that weird??? It settled down some about a half hour in. We got down to the hotel and got lunch. We checked in and hung out for a little bit. Then we headed to the birthday party. Afterwards, we went out to the diner with the preschool crew and then back to the kid who lived there’s house for a couple hours. It was nice, the boys had a lot of fun.
We headed back to the hotel. My son and I went for a late swim and then went back to the room and did mad libs. We were cracking up. The next morning we went for an early swim and then had some breakfast before meeting up with his preschool friend for a few hours and then heading home…
We had a blast. I swear it made us closer and we even seem to argue way less. I think I am going to start planning at least a yearly mini trip with just my boy. It was so nice to focus all my attention on just him and relax.
Anyone else do mini trips with just one child? Do you enjoy them too? Where have you gone?
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FriYay!

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This week has been hectic to say the least. We had a therapy appointment, a meeting with the principle, vice principle and teacher.  I hate confrontation. My anxiety level has been at an all time high. I seriously had a rash on my chest Tuesday because I was so flipping angry. It was my month close at work. Let’s just say I am ready for the weekend.
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It’s Friday. I have work to finish up this crazy week. Then grocery shopping. The kids both have “Hang outs” after school but husband is taking care of those duties. It’s not a play date anymore, those are for babies I was told. 😦  We have to find a birthday present for a bowling birthday party tomorrow. My daughter goes to the party but my husband, son and I will be having a mean game of who can bowl the worst on some other lane. Much needed fun and relaxation.
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Daughter needs some new pants. And I guess we have to find valentines for the kids to give at school. Sunday is book club brunch and then the in laws will be over cause it’s been a while and I miss them.
It should be a great weekend and I am really ready for it.
Side note. I made a seriously delish pasta carbonara on Tuesday. https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/12965-spaghetti-carbonara  I added onions, peas, and cherry tomatoes. Cooked them in some of the fat from the bacon on the side and then mixed them after I mixed everything together.
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*** picture from the Recipe***
Happy weekend everyone! I hope you all have a great one. Be back Monday!

Gel manicure Review

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I’ve been holding off of getting a gel manicure because I had acrylics for a long time when I was a teenager and it totally destroyed my nails. It took an entire year for them to grow out again cause of the damage. I have a sister In Law who’s a nurse and she’s very into makeup and interesting things. She had a gel manicure and said it did damage the nail bed. That only fueled my no gel manicure ever quest.
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The past few years I have been biting my nails unless they are done. But I haven’t always had the money to get them done. So my manicurist recently started recommending the gels. Saying they are not as damaging as before and they last for 2 weeks.
This past Friday, I got my first gel manicure. So far it’s lasted through groceries, prepping  envelops at work and chilling all weekend.
It’s Tuesday… 5 days in and I have been picking at them a little but they still look pretty and shiny.
One week in, I have shiny, strong nails still. I have to deep clean the kitchen tomorrow so we’ll see how this stands up for another week!
One week 4 days and after a weekend of deep cleaning and scrubbing my house. My Shiny strong nails are still shiny but the tips are starting to chip off. You can see the growth now at the base of the nail. I wonder if I can make it to Friday? I am trying not to pick cause I know it will case damage to my nails. We’ll see.
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Never mind. I am going to have to make an appointment earlier than Friday because now that it’s starting to chip, I am picking them. I think I am going to get another gel manicure because it really does look nice and my nails feel much stronger, Would I recommend gel manicures? Yes, for now! We’ll see how it goes after the second one.
They do make your nails weaker though. I saw that after they soaked off the first one and I notice that even with the new gels, my nails feel weaker. I do not think I will do this again in two weeks.
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Has anyone else tried a Gel manicure? What are your thoughts? Would you recommend them?
******** None of these are actually my nails. These are googled pictures of what my nails basically looked like. ********

Can teachers be bullies?

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I’m having a tough time with my child’s teacher. It went from her telling us that she prefers the girls over the boys (I have a boy) at our conference in December, to last week her questioning me about why I didn’t bring him to the holiday concert after school because she knows we went to the movies that night. I told her we had already bought the tickets and that he choose to go to the movies that night because he didn’t want to go to the holiday concert. Then I walked away and got angry… Is she questioning my parenting? And if so, then maybe it’s time I start questioning her teaching. What I do with my children after school hours is none of her damn business. Her job is to teach my child in a safe environment and currently he is having anxiety just going to school because he feels like he is constantly being targeted by her and getting in trouble. Why is that?
This week Monday she took his chap stick away because he got up to go get it without asking. He raised his hand and she wouldn’t call on him. Which has happened before. He needs his chap stick right now, he has a very dry irritation under his lip (which is clearly visible) and he needs the chap stick to sooth and protect it. She should not have taken it away.
Yesterday she wouldn’t let him go to the nurse when he asked because he had a headache. They were going to recess and it’s weirdly warm and springy here right now so he was trying to tell her that the humidity would make his headache worse but she yelled at him to get his jacket and go outside. So he cried and she said that she was finished talking to him and walked away. When I picked him up he was pale. When we got home he skipped dinner and went to bed and slept for 12 hours straight. He clearly did not feel well.
We have emailed the Principle and the Vice principle and we have a meeting tomorrow morning.
Can teachers be bullies? And then what do you do? Based on the principles email to confirm the meeting tomorrow, it already feels like they are defending this teacher instantly without looking into the situation.
Any advice?

Last night

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I went to bed pretty early last night, about 9:00. I was just shot. It was a long day and I needed sleep. I was thinking about this conversation on Twitter I had read about how you shouldn’t get upset with someone for giving you a not great review. As a writer, you should be happy for the critique.  It got me thinking about how I reacted to my first review and how others saw me. I went back and read my blog about it and I think honestly, I was upset but I also realized that this review came from someone who would not normally read books like mine. It made me realize that I really need to find my audience.
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I couldn’t shake the feeling of being annoyed at myself for my reaction though. I think the feeling caused me to wake up on the middle of the night. I thought that I really should change something in my book. Then I was thinking that maybe I should take my book down all together. Maybe it’s to much about me and I shouldn’t put it out there. Like the one guy that reviewed my book had said. And I should change some stuff… Maybe I should change some stuff. I thought I would take the book down in the morning and then change some things and put it back up. It wouldn’t matter to wait because no one is buying it anyway. At this point I was wide awake and I was thinking to much. My neck started to hurt and I was getting anxious. So I ended up getting out of bed, correcting a part I couldn’t get out of my head and then re uploading the book again. I finally went back to bed at 4:30 AM.
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Happy Tuesday. I am now exhausted with a giant headache but at least I was able to go back to sleep for a little bit.
Is it okay to be upset though? Is that really frowned upon? I wasn’t ungrateful. I said thank you and I would consider all the suggestions. I am feeling better now but I don’t think I will ever comment on a review again.

Monday

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It’s Monday. I have the Monday Blues today.

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It’s not like I hate coming to work or anything. I actually don’t mind my job at all. I just love the weekends where we can take our time in the morning and relax. Monday means getting everyone to school and work on time and rushing to pick everyone up after work.

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The weekends are fun with friends and the kids and we all get to hang out. On Monday I miss everyone. Tuesday things start to get back to the regularly scheduled normal and come Friday I am pumped again for another weekend. Does anyone love Monday?

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February and forward

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January has been a pretty great month for my blog! Thanks to everyone who’s subscribed and to everyone who takes a moment to read something I have written. I really do appreciate all the likes and comments and it’s giving me confidence to keep going. I am looking forward to this year.
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I have a few vacations that we will be taking this year so I am really looking forward to creating blogs on those trips. We plan on going to Boston, Lego land and California, Rhode Island, Virginia for a week and then Cape cod for my birthday. The week long trips will be to Cali and Virginia. Has anyone gone to any of these places and is there any recommendations of place we need to go eat, or visit, or eat? Sorry, I skipped breakfast. Also, I love to eat.
I hope everyone has a fabulous weekend! I will be back Monday with a new blog post!
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My First book Review Review

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This is my first review:

” This is not a story I would put out to the world, but it’s your choice. It is reasonably well written though.

There is no such thing as Karma. It is actually God’s law of sewing and reaping. As ye sew so shall ye reap. If you sew the wind you will reap the whirlwind. Also, Christians aren’t allowed to hate. Those who are unwilling to forgive others will not be forgiven.

These stories are quite interesting. Not really my genre but I sure hope it does well for you. I still would give a great deal of thought as to publishing the fist story about your brother. Maybe change it to simply say that he molested you. I believe that would be better received.”

From a man on Facebook who asked me to email him a copy of my book so he didn’t have to buy it. I thought, Sure, why not! And there it is.

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This is my review of this review:

I really need to find my audience. I do not think this man is anywhere near it. I wrote about a lot of the messed up stories that happen in my life as a way to get it out. Maybe someone else is going through the same thing, or went through the same thing, and now they’ll know they aren’t alone. I have gone back and forth about publishing the first chapter in this book. I have put stuff up only to take it down the next morning. I have post it on Facebook and then deleted it because I was scared what people would think of me. Or that people would judge me.  I deleted my Facebook because I wanted to grow my own audience and not rely on people I knew in high school who I haven’t heard from in over 15 years.  I put Chapter 1 in this book because I wanted to. It was something that followed me a lot in my life and definitely impacted me in a lot of ways. So it should be in this book. I think. No wait. Yes, it should be.

And my tweets:

My reasonably well written life stories. I might change my description. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07J486XGH 

I’m not bitter. I’m really fucking bitter. #amwriting #readingcommunity #writercommunity

That is my review of my first review. I am not for everyone and that is okay.

9 and mental and emotional health

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My son is having a hard time at school. In 2nd grade he was bullied by this little girl. In 3rd grade he was bullied by this little boy. Now in 4th grade he has to deal with mean girls and a mean teacher. We have been in contact with his teacher and the Vice principle. He kept telling us that the teacher was being mean to him and I found myself kind of siding with the teacher, like I am sure she was a little snarky because she has a class of 20 9 year old kids and she probably has to repeat herself one million times and I know I get angry after the 3rd reminder… Then I am thinking that, this is her job. She’s a 4th grade teacher and really she should have a little more patience. We waited for the conference.
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We go to the parent teacher conference in December and I am expecting her to be like “Oh, no, I don’t yell. I redirect.” Something like that. But no. The teacher flat out told me that she prefers the girls to the boys because they are nice and gentle and the boys at this age basically bounce off each other. She also admits that she does yell at the boys but it’s not just my son, it’s all of them… Hence, the vice principle being involved now. My son would be miserable every morning because he didn’t want to go to school. We have been working through it. It’s been a little over a month and my son seems to be better going to school. We’re trying to ask about the positive things that happen through out the day and then if anything happen that mad him feel upset and slowly it seems to be less and less… Or he’s just not telling us anymore.
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On top of this, a few weeks ago I got a call from the social worker. Apparently while all this other stuff was going on, some little bitch in art class told my son that the world would be better off without him and he agreed and said maybe he wouldn’t be in school the next day. So the social worker was called in to do a risk assessment. He was fine but she wanted to let me know what happen. I thought maybe it was the video games or something and he didn’t really mean it.
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When I picked him up that day he said he actually did mean it. He was feeling so sad with everyone being mean to him that he felt like he didn’t want to be there any more. That broke my heart. We had a huge heart to heart and we immediately called to get on a list to bring him to speak to a therapist. We go today. I am really nervous but I really hope they can teach all of us better tools with how to deal with this.  It’s crazy how mean kids are and it doesn’t help when the teacher sucks too. So we will see. Wish us luck please.
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