Alive and Kicking

Hello all. Before you panic about me being dead or something, rest assured I am not.

It's just that, well, I've been majorly depressed for the past two weeks. Many things have triggered it:  from the cold, cloudy, gloomy weather, to a friendship gone completely awry, to being stressed about finances and trying to find a job and daycare, to having a baby who just doesn't nap well. It's been overwhelming. Oh, and then I got sick one day (like horribly so: I'll spare you the details, but suffice to say it was straight out of a movie scene where you don't know whether to laugh or cry for the person so stricken).

I went to bed at 7:45 last night, I kid you not. That's how I handle stress and depression - I go to sleep. I wish I could say I slept all night long, but our darling 9-month-old still doesn't sleep through the night. She did okay, for her, by waking up "only" twice (at 12:30a.m. and again at 5:30a.m.). How I long for the day that she actually CONSISTENTLY sleeps 10 hours straight!! (Her two top teeth FINALLY broke through her gums today! Maybe we'll get some relief now? I doubt it, but it's worth hoping for.)

Some good things, because there are some.

1. I have a wonderful marriage. I don't care if you think I'm bragging, because I am, but I am thankful first and foremost for this relationship. So thankful.
2. I have two beautiful healthy children.
3. I am healthy myself and getting even more so as I joined the local fitness center and work out every other day. (Dude, I'm a 17 pounds lighter than I was the summer I got pregnant! How is that possible!?)
4. My husband is getting healthy by working out every other day too. (Yay for health, yay for sex appeal!)
5. I listed a stroller on Craigslist this week and the woman who came to buy it today happens to be an HR recruiter for Washington University, where I just so happen to be applying for work. And she asked me to send her my resume. A.W.E.S.O.M.E.
6. I was affirmed by 2 other photographers this week that I have talent. (While I have decided that we need more consistent income to make ends meet, hence me applying for full-time jobs, I will still work on this creative outlet and try to get more clients on the side.)
7. I have been reminded that I have VERY good friends back in Nashville whom I can always count on to be unconditional. That is SO important.
8. I have a good relationship with my mother (who had a birthday on Wednesday - Happy Birthday, Mom!!!). 9. I have a birthday coming up in a few weeks which means a MASSAGE is in my future - woot!

There, that feels better. Now that it's past 7:00p.m. it's time for bed to spend time with my husband.

Cheers and happy weekend, everyone!

xo,
V.W.

Oh, Hi

Oops. I totally forgot to post my friend Bean's menu for the week! Head on over and see what's she's cooking this week. We've been eating leftovers from things we've made, namely beef and chickpea Moroccan stew that I made in the crock pot and a shephard's pie that Huz made over the weekend.

I've been busy researching carseats for Claire since her sister has outgrown her bucket carseat and needs to move up. Claire is 3 pounds away from being able to use a booster so I really need a convertible seat and, being a Britax owner and fan  already, I of course wanted another since they are the safest out there. Well, lucky me, I scored a Britax Frontier ($250) for only $75 yesterday from a woman that only used it for a year with her son. Score!

Panini Pleasure

Oh my, you guys. I'm loving (and I mean l-o-v-i-n-g) my panini press.

Check out what I made using lowly leftover rotisserie chicken.

I added some smoked gouda,





Some sliced apples.

Some carmelized onions.




And a bit of blue cheese dressing to enjoy this beauty for lunch. YUM.

Foodie Friday

I have never been particularly fond of eating raw broccoli; I just don't love the leafy texture, I guess. But, that might change after I stumbled onto this broccoli slaw recipe. It's really good, what with the homemade buttermilk dressing, the satisfying crunch of almonds, and the zing in the mouth from the dried cranberries.




























I paired it with these crunchy baked pork chops, replacing the egg with ground flax seed and water so that my egg-allergic child could enjoy dinner with us. Another tried and true recipe to add to my recipe box! I loved the crunch on the outside and the tender, slightly salty pork on the inside. Yum.




























I'm loving my panini press that I got from Huz for Christmas. (I told you how Claire totally ruined the surprise of the gift under the tree, right? She said, "Mom, your present will help you make better sandwiches!" And she was right!) I have enjoyed using leftover chicken from a previous dinner, slapping it on some country bread with smoked gouda and some olive tapenade for a delicious hot lunch.




























Finally, I love ending the day with a cocktail made for me by my dear husband. Below is one of my favorites: The Clapless Belle, which is a Nashville version of the Penicillin (recipe found here) - just add some bourbon and some ginger simple syrup. It's also a good excuse to use the new HUGE ice cube tray I got him for Christmas. Cheers!

The Chicken or the Egg?

I have just begun the very frustrating process of rejoining the workforce (or at least the research part of rejoining the workforce). And it sucks. It's not that I'm weepy about going back to work (though another soul-sucking 9 to 5 doesn't necessarily send shivers of joy through me, and I do get a bit sad picturing Charlotte crying for me as I sneak out the door) but it's so freaking complicated now that we have two children.

Where do I even begin? The chicken (job) or the egg (childcare)?

I'm looking at places to apply (Webster University and WashU are the two obvious choices since I've worked in education for the last decade) while at the same time looking into daycare. Y'all? Daycare is EXPENSIVE. One place wants $1900 per month for Charlotte alone. Nineteen hundred a month. Paycheck? What paycheck would I have left!? Most will cost around $1300 a month for Charlotte and then I'll have to pay another $900 or so a month for Claire. That, of course, means I'll have to take Claire out of the preschool she LOVES and is firmly attached to (after leaving Nashville and her Vanderbilt daycare which she cried about for weeks, I'm hesitant to switch her world up again) since it's only an 8:00 - 2:30 program.

What do I do? How did you do it, working parents?

Do I find a job first, then ask them to wait for a few weeks (or more depending on how long childcare wait lists are) until I figure out childcare? Would they even do that for me? Or do I find daycare first (paying the $150 application fee PER CHILD) without knowing where (or when) I will find a job!? And how do I afford childcare once I'm working? The whole point of going back to work is that we need more money!

Agghhhh!

Now I see why so many parents chose to stay home after having a second child. But we can't afford it! Renting a house here is expensive (more than my mortgage in Nashville cost by $300), we're both paying off college/grad school loans, we have a car payment, gas and electricity aren't cheap, and we refuse to live on Hamburger Helper!

Advice? Anyone?

Menu Monday

My good friend over at The Pastiche Puggle and I decided to try our hand at swapping menu plans with each other each week and writing about it on our respective blogs. So, here goes!

This week is my week to share the menu. Note that I'll fill in the blank once Huz* finds time to tell me what he's going to make this week.

[I totally changed this menu plan a few hours after originally posting because I got our grocery store's flyer and it had some GREAT deals.]

Monday - smoked pork shoulder, green beans, and buttermilk cornbread
Tuesday - rotisserie chicken ($6.99), mashed potatoes and gravy (free!), salad
Wednesday - leftovers
Thursday - ?
Friday - homemade pizza Friday
Saturday - citrus salmon (a new recipe using a wonderful citrus vinegar we have), rice, thyme roasted carrots with goat cheese
Sunday - ?


*What, is Professor Winters busy teaching his first J-term class today or something!? Excuses!

The best part about this menu is that I only have to buy the following items to make any of it:

goat cheese
salad greens
fresh thyme

Cheap Eats

One of my New Year's resolutions this year (which also include purchasing a gym membership instead of the piece meal Groupon workouts I get only now and then) is to really hone in on our food spending. Huz and I love to eat good, home-cooked food, but it can be expensive if we don't stick to the menu plan and the budget.

One of my first dinners of the year turned out to be really tasty, cheap, and fast (all of which are my new criteria!). All in all, it only cost me around $3 to make since I already had the garbanzo beans (dried, which I cooked the night before and just stored in the fridge), the chicken stock, and the Parmesan on hand.

Let me share with you.

Pasta, Bean, and Sausage Soup
(adapted from Epicurious)

• 3 cups cooked garbanzo beans (made from dried beans, so it cost mere pennies)
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 pound spicy* Italian sausage, casings removed (was only $2 at my grocery)
• 4 teaspoons chopped fresh rosemary
• 2 large garlic cloves, chopped
• 1/4 teaspoon dried crushed red pepper
• 1/4 cup tomato paste
• 5 cups canned low-salt chicken broth (used homemade that is stored in our freezer)
• 2 1/3 cups whole wheat rotini pasta (was only $1 at my grocery)
• 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Put 1 cup beans and 1 cup water in blender (or use stick blender, as I did) and puree until smooth. Heat oil in large pot over medium heat. Add sausage, rosemary, garlic, and crushed red pepper. Sauté until sausages are cooked through, breaking up with fork, about 8 minutes. Mix in tomato paste. Add bean puree, remaining beans, broth, and pasta. Simmer until pasta is tender and mixture is thick, stirring occasionally, about 30 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. Top with cheese and enjoy.

*Normally I don't shy away from spicy recipes, but I used sweet Italian sausage instead so that our four-year-old could enjoy dinner with us (and she did!).

Stay tuned for more menu-planning and recipe-sharing posts, as my good friend "Bean" just started a new blog and we are talking about collaborating on good, budget-friendly meals!