Thankful Thursday

I am thankful for my collection of metal bowls. They have been put to good use this week. For some reason the kids have decided to randomly throw up. It doesn’t seem like they have an actual stomach bug, but they have hoarked for, which seems like, no apparent reason. One they take a nap, they’re fine. I wish I have the ability to boot and rally like that.

I am thankful for hot showers and “feel better bubbles”. If you’re a Kraus kid and you cover yourself in your own sick, you immediately get a hot bath or shower. The bath always consists of “feel better bubbles”. Did you know that they contain a magical substance that sucks the sick right out of you, that’s why your fingers get wrinkly really fast when you’re sick. Whatever works!

I am thankful that my kids (Teddy and Stella) seem to have no fear in the middle of the night. They walk through a dark house and poke the sleeping bear; then have the nerve to argue with that angry, overtired, annoyed beyond belief bear.

I am thankful that Memorial Day is this weekend. That means beach season is upon us. Too bad I’m nowhere ready to get this body into a bathing suit (I also have no idea where they are). Oh well, I look better than I did last year.

I am thankful I don’t have to fight with my kids to eat fruits and vegetables. I have to fight with my kids NOT to eat MY salad (while I’m trying to eat it). When I’m cutting vegetables around the kids, close to half of them can disappear before they make it into a bowl.

I Have Become a Zombie Mom

I can’t remember the last time I was able to sleep through the night. I don’t have to get up to go to the bathroom, I don’t have a stuffy nose keeping me up; I have three kids that roam the halls and find joy in disturbing my slumber.

Stella makes a nightly visit, dragging her pillow because “she had a bad dream”. At first I felt terrible for her and would let her in right away. The problem is, she is THE WORST kid to sleep with. She hogs my pillow, she kicks and she is just downright unpleasant to have in the bed when you’re trying to sleep. I think she caught on, now when she comes down I think BULLSHIT, you just want to interrupt my precious and very elusive slumber.

Teddy has a habit of coming downstairs in the middle of the night to watch TV. So I locked the cable from 1:30AM until 5:30AM. Because of that, he will just stand there staring at me until I get out of bed and punch in the code, it’s creepy and I’m WAY TOO tired to argue at 3AM. (I should just unlock it, but I just keep forgetting to do it.)

Monday night I heard Teddy come in and I thought he was going to tell me he couldn’t sleep and wanted to watch TV. Then I heard it, at the foot of my bed (every mom knows that sound) I sat up and he’s throwing up on my floor like a frat guy at the end of a bender. I grab my garbage can (thank goodness Past Heather was kind to Future Heather and actually put a bag in it) and he continues hurling in there.

I’m trying to wake up Ted who is sound asleep. I shook him and said Teddy was throwing up and he said, “OK.” No, it’s not! As Teddy’s holding the garbage can I am right over Ted’s body and I am making sure he is focusing and I say, “Teddy- is- throwing- up- all- over -our -room.” He pulled himself together and gave Teddy a shower.

Yesterday I tried to take a nap because of the traumatic events of the night before. I didn’t have to worry about bringing Teddy to school or picking up Maizie because Ted was going to do that. I go and lie down on my bed, get all cozy and every time I start to drift off that douche of a dog came and woke me up. She’s lucky she’s still living with us.

 

I was very disappointed with her behavior

On to last night. Stella made her nightly trip with her pillow and said she needed to sleep downstairs. I told her there was no way she was sleeping in my bed. She said she wanted to sleep on the couch; at this point I didn’t care. Then she had the nerve to start arguing with me over what she was going to watch on TV. Listen little girl, you’re not getting a choice, you’re lucky I’m even putting it on.

This morning she tells me that the germs are back (she was throwing up on Sunday; Maizie exiled herself ). I told her to move to the little couch, because I wanted to sit and have my coffee. Then she asks if applesauce is good when you have “the germs”. It is, it part of that BRAT diet, so I gave her some. She yakked it up all over herself. That is what lead me to this post.

I don’t see much sleep in my future.

Thanksgiving Meatballs

I have a thing for meatloaf. I make it all the time, it all shapes and sizes. Name a form; I’ve probably made it (free form, loaf pan, mini, muffins, pie plate, etc). One of my kids was asking for meatballs and another wanted rice. So I thought, why not have both? I only have ground turkey and I wasn’t in the mood for red sauce (or a gravy…some of you know what I’m talking about) so I decided on, what I call, Thanksgiving Meatballs (I have a whole bunch of “Thanksgiving” meals).

This is what you need:

The necessities

1 package of ground turkey

2 celery stalks

2 carrots

2 onions

1 T poultry seasoning

1 egg

¼ c panko or breadcrumbs

OPTIONAL INGREDIENTS:

Gravy

Cranberry sauce

In a food processor chop the celery, carrots and onion very fine. 

All chopped

Put into a large bowl; add the ground turkey, poultry seasoning, egg and breadcrumbs. Mix together with your hands (nastiest part about this). 

Mixed and ready to roll

Roll into meatballs (size of the balls is your own personal preference; I don’t want to know what goes on in your kitchen). I bake them on cookie sheets lined with foil (the less cleaning I have to do the better). 

Into the oven we go

Bake them in a 375 oven for 20-25 minutes for smallish balls up to 40 minutes for larger balls. Be sure to check them, no one wants an undercooked turkey meatball!

Who doesn't love a tasty meatball, especially one that tastes like Thanksgiving dinner?

Get fancy and serve them with easy Thanksgiving sides. I served sweet potatoes, cranberry, gravy and green beans (NOT casserole…it was a weekday). Because there was also a demand for rice, we had that too.

TA-DA!

Enjoy!