Some new pics of the kiddos - Jonathan just HAD to rake a leaf pile and jump in - he wouldn't listen to any arguments that in a few weeks, there'll be LOTS more leaves. So the biggest pile we could muster was, well, not very big. But I think he still had lots of fun! And Matthew. Learning to climb. It's hilarious - somehow in the 5 days he's known how to get up there, he's already figured out the best seat in the house! Nothing like the corner of the wrap-around couch!
Have a question for all you moms out there. Why, oh WHY do kids have to dump toys? I just don't get it. All these random toys here and there - large toys, little toys, whatever. They aren't good enough. The only toy good enough is the one on the bottom of the toybox, or in our case, the canvas bin. At any given moment, the two of them can be found pawing through this bin in search of heaven knows what....wait - I think I even have a recent picture of that....
Why is the bin in the closet, you ask? Well, mainly, to try to enforce the old adage - "out of sight, out of mind." They are into this bin all day, rooting to find some elusive toy at the bottom, or, even more heinous, pulling it out of the closet and just dumping it. Makes my blood boil. Nothing, and I mean nothing about raising kids makes me more frustrated. Except whatever's going to happen this evening to make me eat my words.
Does anyone have any idea how bad for you buffalo wings are? Last week, we went out to lunch. We ordered the kids one of those little pizzas - personal size - and I thought I'd get a few bites of that, so rather than me ordering a full lunch, I just decided to order an appetizer, and in trying to pick a fairly healthy one, I chose the wings. Wow, they were so good. So, in all my naivete, I decided to make them for dinner last night. I bought some wings at the market, came home, started looking for recipes. That's when I found out - so much for low-cal! My heck! First of all, those babies are deep-fried! Then the sauce? Pretty much equal parts hot sauce and hello...BUTTER. Ummmm - no wonder they're so good? After about an hour of searching and assimilating some recipes, I finally had my plan, and it actually worked out pretty well. So here's the "south beach diet" version....
8 wings, separated at the joints with tips cut off
enough hot sauce to marinate (I used Crystal - just use your favorite) Put all this in a ziploc bag and stick in the fridge for less than 24 hours. I did it for 2. I can imagine if you leave it longer, they'll be hotter. But not more than 24 hours, because I think the vinegar/acid in the sauce at that point starts breaking down the meat.
Preheat oven to 400
Get another ziploc. Put in about a cup of Bisquick, a teaspoon of flavored salt (celery salt works well, garlic salt would work well, whatever you like) And if you really like it hot, you can add some cayenne pepper. Mix well. Get the wings, drain the sauce, put 3-4 wings in the bag at once and shake to coat. Lay them all out in one layer on a nonstick stoneware or regular 9x13 pan. Bake for 25 minutes on one side, flip them over and bake another 20-25 minutes. Yum. And low-cal, too. Well, if you don't eat the skin. I took the skin off as I ate. I tried to get it off when they were raw, but it didn't work out too well - half the meat was coming off with the skin! Plus the skin seals in moisture. So if you don't mind peeling it off as you eat (hey, your hands are going to get full of sauce anyway), it works much better that way!
Man it's been a long week - twice already this week, Matthew has been up in the middle of the night for 2 hours. Sunday night I'm not sure what it was. Last night, it was gas. Mark and I tried everything and were about to hang him upside down by his ankles (that was a JOKE, people), when it started coming out on it's own, spontaneously! After he gets it out, he was still screaming. So what's wrong now? Well, hmmm, we ate dinner at 5, it was now 1am, and he ate very little for a bedtime snack (about 10 pieces of cereal), so could he POSSIBLY be hungry? He was. Starving. So after some milk and animal crackers, off to bed he went. And off to bed we went. Thankfully, all was quiet after that, but having to do that TWO nights this week was not fun. Let's just say, we're very much looking forward to the weekend, which, this weekend, happens to be a three-day weekend because of the holiday on Monday! Thank goodness - we need the break! Lots of plans this weekend, hope the weather holds!
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