What to Eat?
Do you ever have one of those days when you just can’t figure out what to eat? I had that problem today. Nothing seemed appetizing and it just seemed like far too much effort to make anything. Add the fact that I had no food in the house and really, just a recipe for disaster (no pun intended).
For breakfast I had oatmeal with blueberries and it was just blah. I had trouble finishing it. I was working and eating at the same time which is a direct violation of French Women Don’t Get Fat so maybe thats why I didn’t enjoy breakfast. Probably serves me right, right Mireille?
I finally thought about lunch at around 1:30. Usually I’m starving around noon so this was very unusual for me. Again, I had nothing in the fridge but somehow concocted a yogurt/peach salsa/avocado/boiled egg thing. It turned out as bad as it sounds.
Dinner was supposed to be at the Harvest Festival at Maya’s school. Maya was so excited that she decided to get dressed up:
How cute is this skirt? My mom made it. I wish I inherited her sewing talents but I can barely fix a button.
There was a surprisingly huge selection of food at the school – turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, lots of rice, crackers, cheese, salad, fruit, and dessert galore. I made a plate for Maya. But the smell of the turkey totally turned me off and I couldn’t eat a thing. Plus it was 4:30, too early for dinner, even for me.
I swear I taught Maya how to use a fork, I have no idea why she’s using her fingers in this picture. Anyway she ate the entire plate including a chocolate cupcake that is obscured by her hand.
We left the Harvest Festival and headed to Trader Joe’s where she proceeded to ask me what was for dinner. I think she eats more than I do.
Dinner was another disaster. I made a salmon burger from Trader Joe’s and for some reason it was disgusting. I threw most of it out. Luckily I had some toasted sourdough with butter to make up for it. Can’t go wrong with carbs! I had some steamed spinach to round off my random day.
Before I disappear to watch Top Chef and eat some chocolate (yes another exciting Friday night) I’ll leave you with a picture of a Cole Haan bag I saw and fell in love with…
I can’t justify buying this right now but it is beautiful and great for traveling. Good leather too…If only I needed another bag!!
Cupcakes Anyone?
I don’t particularly like school events. I know that sounds very unsupportive of my 4-year-old but I can’t help it. Usually its just a bunch of bored parents half heartedly trying to make conversation while we keep one eye on our child who is running around eating instead of sitting down in one place like they do at home. I’d rather be doing just about anything else. But our family’s designated social director, aka Maya, LOVES school events and thus we find ourselves participating in just about every single one.
In honor of Thanksgiving Maya’s preschool is having a “Harvest Festival.” Cute concept but last year it was chaos. Kids on massive sugar highs while their parents were literally pushing in line to get a turkey leg. Apparently some of us forgot the reason behind the holiday. And don’t even get me started on the parking situation. There just isn’t enough time for that one.
This year Maya decided to volunteer me for cupcakes. So while I was amenable to making the cupcakes I was scared for my life when I found out her class was in charge of side dishes. Maya has an extremely scary love of cake that one shouldn’t mess with. I carefully explained to her that we had to bring rice or pasta and wouldn’t it be fun if she helped me with some penne? She just looked at me like I was crazy. So cupcakes it was.
Normally I’d bust out my laptop and head to allrecipes.com to figure out the best recipe possible. But faced with the daunting task of cooking for an entire Harvest Festival, I relied on the trans fat filled help of Betty Crocker. I know, terrible, right? At least I let Maya pick what artificial flavor she preferred. I’m a good mom like that. Of course she went with chocolate. That’s my girl.
This morning we were up and baking pretty early.
Yes Maya was in her pajamas. We’re classy like that.
I explained to Maya that she had to wash her hands after coughing because nobody wanted her germs on their cupcakes. So off she went to wash her hands. The minute she came back she decided to scratch her head. So I sent her off again to wash her hands. We put in a couple of good minutes of decorating when, you guessed it, she decided to pop a sprinkle in her mouth. So I sent her off yet again. This time she was super ticked off. So was I. And then she came back and wouldn’t you believe it, she scratched her neck. Talk about a psychosomatic moment. We had some words but she did go wash her hands again. Things were pretty tense but luckily we proceeded through the rest of the frosting/decorating session with no further incidents. (Actually out of my peripheral vision I think I saw her scratch her head but I pretended like I didn’t see it. Sorry in advance Harvest Festival goers).
The finished product turned out pretty good:
I knew I could count on you Betty.
Now I just need to get through the actual event. Can’t you tell how excited I am for it?
My Kid is Cute…
I never understand how people take one look at a baby and exclaim how adorable he/she is. Usually all newborns look the same to me – little, red, screaming and angry. When Maya was born she didn’t really look like me or Ali but of course I thought she was cute nonetheless because she was my kid. I’d gone through 12 hours of labor so she dammed well better be cute after all that work! Naturally, if I was a bit more objective I would have noticed that she too was red and screaming and extremely angry. (Fast forward 4 years and some things haven’t really changed all that much).
To say that Maya was demanding was an understatement – she cried, she didn’t sleep, she screamed, and then she cried some more. There were times when she wouldn’t eat or play or do anything but cry. Those were the times I wanted to shoot myself in the head. About twenty times a day I would ask myself where those happy feelings of motherhood were because I certainly didn’t have them.
And then suddenly one day she turned into a cute, happy baby:
And I kind of understood why people had kids.
I am being super objective when I say this – but Maya just got cuter and cuter. She has this ridiculous ability to wrap anyone around her little finger. Just ask my in-laws who literally cannot say no to her. This results in shopping trips that end in 4 pairs of new shoes. We are going to change Maya’s name to Amelda soon.
Maya still gets a lot of attention from strangers but now its become a bit of a problem. Allow me to explain. People will come up to us and tell me how beautiful Maya is and how she should be a model, etc., all while Maya is listening. While it is so nice of people to be so complimentary the problem is that Maya now expects it. One could say that compliments have gone to her head. And therein lies the problem. Maya seems to need to be the center of attention and if she isn’t, well she’ll make sure to do something that people can’t ignore.
I am scared for the future. Yes I know I am getting a bit ahead of myself as Maya is only 4, but I don’t want her to put so much emphasis on her looks (and yes I need to practice what I preach). I try to explain how it is more important to be smart. Looks don’t matter I tell her. She just looks at me like I am idiot when I tell her that. She lives in L.A. She knows things.
Being a parent is hard. So while I attempt to figure out how to rectify the situation I will just try to appreciate the attention Maya gets. Is it terrible to wish that I was getting attention too?!?
While I'm not going to win Mother/Wife of the Year Award anytime soon, I haven't killed anyone yet or shot myself in the head. And that, my friends, is how I calculate success these days. 
FANCY THAT FANCY THIS 