and I thought buying a bra with my mother in my teens was bad

Ok, is it just me or am I the only one that doesn't like having their Mother in the dressing room with them?

Personally, I really, really do not want my mother in there. She make comments on my butt, my stomach and even my chest.

Today, she topped herself while bra shopping.

AHHHHHH!

While I was trying on bras, my mother waited outside the dressing room (where she should be!). This was the one time, I should of insisted she come into the dressing room with me .
I heard her say to one of the sales ladies
"My daughter needs help, can you go in her dressing room and help her out please?" .
What! did I ever say I needed help! I already carefully sized myself at home and used
this program to make sure I was accurate... and I was!

So the sales lady knocked on the door.
"Your mother says you need help."
"No, I don't"
"I can make sure you are finding the right size bra"
"No, I am fine"
Just as I finished my last statement, Little Bean opens the door and said,
"Come on in"
Oh no she didn't!

At this point, I was furious with my mother and I tried hard not to take it out on the sales lady who was standing in front of me with a measuring tape.

I just stood there while my head spun inside... trying to find a coping mechanism, like screaming, or fainting or better yet going to a tropical island to make this whole scene disappear.
...please, please be a dream.

Nothing worked, so, I let her measure me and confirm I was in the right size, but maybe not quite the right style. So, she picked up a few different bras for me and I tried them on.

In the end, she did an awesome job of finding me great fitting bras, but that doesn't excuse my mother nor Little Bean's hospitality.

As I thanked the sales lady, I let her know,
"Ten years ago, you wouldn't of gotten through that door" (who am I kidding... 2 yrs ago, there would of been no little hands opening that door.... 10 yrs ago, #1 daughter probably would of shown the same hospitality as Little Bean did today). Thats with the assumption that my mother wasn't in the dressing room with me, pushing the button for help.



Side note: ladies try out the bra sizer it worked out well for me :).

Give me a food item..any food

Give me any food item, with the exception of fruit and vegetables, and my family will find research that says it is or it can be harmful to your body.

Background:

If you haven't guessed, my mother is visiting.

As the main cook in the house, I have 5 people to feed right now. No problem. Except, I have to consider everyones preferences.

Not to mention, 4 out of 5 eat a vegetarian diet and no eggs. 1 out of 5 is diabetic and has to have well balanced meals (and desires lots of sugar).

#1 Daughter is not a fan of tomatoes, Chinese, Thai and Vietnamese food. Also, her body can't handle overly processed foods and should eat foods made from scratch. Figure this out when she was around 5 or 6.

My mother can't handle spicy food, regular milk and cucumbers. She doesn't like soy burgers, artichokes, soggy, baked French fries and radishes.

My husband is not a fan of too much garlic, bland, processed and sweet food. Has problems with uncooked spices and loves salty, spicy and sometimes fried food.

Little Bean doesn't like onions and tofu. She prefers lentils, beans, spicy food, most green vegetables and most fruit.

As for me, I can't handle too much corn, oil and potato chips. There are probably more, however, I do most of the cooking, so it doesn't really matter.

The Issue:

If someone ask, "What's for dinner" , I usually say, "I don't know". This is mostly an honest statement. If I know what I am making for dinner, a lot of times it turns into something else.

However, if I decide to answer the question honestly, someone has something to say about it.

"Pizza?!... you know how bad the cheese on pizza is...? "
hmm, you mean the same cheese you put on your tacos last night?
Later that week, I get an email about how bad pizza is for your health. Pizza I make from scratch, with a 1/4 of a cup of cheese (rather than 2 cups) and cover with vegetables.

I have also received emails on Msg, soy, importance of protein, E.coli in spinach, E. coli is strawberries(I take back my previous statement about vegetables and fruit. No food is innocent, were my family is concerned), to name just a few.

You get the picture?

Conclusion:

It is almost impossible to cook in this house! However....

I Am the Cook! I will take your preferences into consideration, scream in my head, and continue making what I planned to make.

If I listen to everyone, we would just have home made bread, water and a side of green beans every night for dinner.

New Vocabulary with Little Bean

New Word: Impossible

Used in a sentence:
#1
While Little Bean is being assisted in the bathroom by her father she stated, "Papa, this is impossible!" (Don't know if that meant she didn't want her father helping her or she didn't really need to go to the bathroom)

#2
Me: "I have an hour to get dinner ready, can you sit in your high chair and help?"
Little Bean: "No, that's impossible"

Now I ponder

How is it that I can wear 2 sizes smaller than I did in High School and be 20 pounds heavier?
-And "NO" my pants are not tight.
-And "NO, NO, NO" my head didn't get bigger.
I do know they changed the sizing requirements, but that is a little much.

Help! I 'm becoming my Mother!

Or am I? I hope not.
Well, I guess it wouldn't be too bad (oh yes it would!).
Either way, I will not, I repeat not:

1. Put a teaspoon of rum in my child's milk to get them to go to sleep
2. Cover their faces with 2 inches of Vaseline to protect them from the cold (maybe just a thin layer). ---Talk about competitive Mommies... I think back in the 70's, Moms liked to show off their winter-snow, dressing skills. If everything was covered including the eyes and the child could barely walk due to layering... you were doing well as a Mom.
   
3. Make casserole surprise every night (I refuse to make casseroles to this day).
   
4. Say for the 101 + time while eating popcorn, "This is my laxative...it really cleans me out"
   
5. Go to their school dances and dance the old school way in the middle of their friends
6. Sing or sing the wrong words to songs while their friends are in the car
7. Wear bright, funky, flowered clothing
8. Store a whole meal in my purse from the church potluck
9. Talk to everyone in the store about anything and everything
   
10. Try to find a learning, behavior or any abnormal diagnosis' for each of my children (my children are perfect, until otherwise notified... and even then I may not agree)

The good news, I have a husband who will tell me when I am being like my Mother. This usually snaps me back into shape.

Flower cake

Pastry Chef B gave me the challenge of decorating a cake for Little Bean's b-day. So when Chef B was out visiting a few weeks ago we went out and bought the cake pan. Later, she mailed the frosting tips, bags and coloring that I would need.

Now, if you read the last post you probably already figured out, I didn't get the cake done (not even started) for Little Bean's party. I barely had time to frost the cup cakes. However, I did try to make it yesterday for her family party.
I thought I had the leisure of the day to make it.
Ha! Husband was super sick and we spent the day at the doctor's office. Reached home in time to make her favorite dinner and started on the cake. After dinner I set out to decorate the cake. By 9:30 p.m. I was done (way past bed time, but Little Bean was waiting).

So here it is:
Note: The cake picture above is what the cake is supposed to look like, but different colors and slightly different design. The flower middle is supposed to be the same design, didn't quite get that effect.


Ran out of time and butter cream frosting. Learned after the fact, that you should double the Wilton Recipe. "The Wilton's recipe never makes enough." So, I kept adding milk to stretch the amount of frosting. By the time I got to the center, the frosting was a little too runny.



Here is a photo after we ate. Little Bean was trying to serve up more pieces. but was just slicing up the cake and the design. It was kind of painful to watch, but I was also proud to see her generous hospitality.


I will definitely try my hand at cake decorating again. It was a lot of fun.
However:

1. I will allow enough time to bake and frost the cake 2-3 hours total
2. Double the Wilton Recipe
3. Take my time and fix the errors with a toothpick.
   

By the way, this was an Eggless Cherry Chocolate Chip cake. It turned out wonderful, my best eggless cake so far. I will share the recipe another time.

Birthday Girl!

Speaking of party animals...

Little Bean is passed out after her birthday party this bright and sunny afternoon. She didn't touch her cake, so it's not from sugar withdrawal, but from dancing hard with her friends in their toddler mosh pit. I have always wanted to dance in the mosh pit, but today, I was equally intimidated by the roughness and tackling of 3 super cute, two year old girls. They would start off running in a fast circle, then one would stop and turn to hug the toddler behind her and fall to the floor. The 3rd would pile on top of them. Then they would roll back and forth running in to each other and laughing. See what I mean? Pretty scary.

I bombed miserably with being ready on time, with finger foods and cupcakes. I just put too much expectation on myself. However, I am frustrated that I didn't meet my own expectations. Planning and executing a simple toddler party is not hard and I have done it in the past. So what happened? I could blame my Mother for not helping, dirtying up dishes and watching t.v. while I washed her clothes so she can have something to wear (her luggage hasn't arrived yet). Or my husband was at work, Little Bean refused to let me do her hair, #1 daughter forgot her lunch and needed her homework emailed to her...etc. That said, I have no one to blame but myself.

Now, if either one of my best friends were here to help (or in my shoes) this would of been done with style and grace. Chef B, a pastry chef (hence the name), would of already had the house set-up and the food "product" chilling in the fridge before she went to bed the previous evening. HH is a perfect republican, who always wears the best perfume, and looks great under pressure.... need I say more? (Side note: we rarely talk politics and we don't attack the other with our point of views.Right HH?) I on the other hand had nothing ready, as far as food, but the plain cupcakes that needed to be frosted, before my 1st guest arrived. So, I spent the first 30 mins. of the party scrambling while the mothers talked and the kids played.

My mother hosted, while I prayed in my head, "Lord tie her tongue...take the words out of her mouth and muffle them so no one hears her..."

I should of given up on the finger food or put together cheese and crackers and called it a day. The most appetizing food on the table was the fish crackers, cupcakes and animal cookies.
I tried making new, simple vegetarian recipes that both toddlers and adults would enjoy. But quickly learned that was a big mistake. Only the one mother, born west of the Mississippi River (maybe a little farther west) understood and enjoyed the food.

On the bright side, and in the end

• Little Bean and her friends had a blast!
  
• The mommies will probably have interesting facts about me to tell their hubbies and friends.
  
• I learned that cranberry cream cheese is not a crowd pleaser.
• I will never do this again, without one of my best friends. So, put it on your calendars Chef B and HH.
  

HAPPY BIRTHDAY LITTLE BEAN!