15th Fly on the Wall

Welcome to a Fly on the Wall group post. Today 13 bloggers are inviting you to catch a glimpse of what you’d see if you were a fly on the wall in our homes. Come on in and buzz around my house.

My husband wanted to look up something on our cable bill. We have TV, internet and my personal email all through this account. He has his personal email elsewhere.

So he can’t get into the account because I have the password set up since I’m the one who has an email through them. No problem, he answers the security question, resets the password, looks up the info he was looking for and it all works out, right?

Well, except perhaps when you change someone’s email password you might consider mentioning it to them . . .

College Boy made it home for winter break. He came in with all of his electronics carefully and meticulously packed.

And all of his clothes smashed into a garbage bag.

On the day before New Year’s I had to go to the grocery store. So at dinner the night before I told my family that if I didn’t make it back, it was nice knowing them.

To which my husband said “you need to let me know which stores you’re going to so I know where to go to claim your body”.

My response: “you won’t be able to find it, you have no idea what it’s like out there, those shoppers will just kick me under the endcap and keep right on going.”

They say this is mean but I think it’s fair. I told my family I had something for one of them and whoever guessed the number from one to ten got it. They kept asking but I wouldn’t tell them what it was. Everyone picked a number and the winner was chosen. Everyone else was very disappointed until they found out that the winner got to reattach the chain to the plug inside the toilet tank.

I get emails on the Baking In A Tornado account regularly asking me to write posts, link to websites or allow posts on my blog. I got one of those emails the other day and was reading it aloud to my son.

Me (reading): “Have you ever or would you consider making dog treats?”

Smarta$$ Son: “Well, you do claim to make dinner every now and then.”

See, friends, this is what I deal with. And you wonder why I’m always talking about being stressed.

Crockpot Beef Chili

I loved having College Boy here. But I had gotten spoiled by only one kid driving me crazy and for a while I had two. Here’s an example:

High School Senior is going out with friends, he’s driving. I remind him to unlock the door between the garage and the house so he can get in when he comes home. He doesn’t, effectively locking himself out (yes, of course I checked).

College Boy goes out with friends. He’s not driving so he’s heading out the front door. I ask him if he has his key to get back in, he does but leaves the front door unlocked on his way out, effectively leaving the house open to anyone (yes, of course I checked).

Remember that stress I was just talking about?

I talk a lot about my younger son, how he’s concrete and literal and often doesn’t understand what’s salient; like what he should let his mom know about.

Last month I talked about the fact that he had been accepted to 2 colleges before I even knew he had applied. As a result we had a long talk about keeping me in the loop.

So a few weeks ago, at 10 pm on a Saturday night, he tells me that he has a few things for me to add to the calendar. I have a large desk calendar and everyone in the family has a color that’s used for them and their schedule goes onto the calendar in their color.

I go to the calendar, get his color pencil and he tells me that he’s lifeguarding for a friend on Monday. I write it in. Then he tells me that he has an interview with MIT tomorrow.

Wait, tomorrow? Guess I’m still not getting through to him on this whole “keeping mom in the loop” thing.

I hate that my car talks to me. So much so that I answer it back. So here’s a conversation you might hear as I’m pulling into the garage:

Car: “Please fasten your seatbelt.”

Me: “I can’t, it makes it too hard to get out of the car.”

Speaking of the car, this is a conversation that happened while College Boy was home. I was in the kitchen making dinner and he came in to ask to borrow my car:

Me: “You know what, you could but I have almost no gas.”

College Boy: “That’s OK, I have a few minutes. I can wait while you go out and get some.”

I was working in the kitchen most of the day of New Year’s Eve. I always make a ton of snacks and dips and appetizers and desserts and put it all out on the counter and whoever comes by can help themselves.

But I was also on social media quite a bit.

I had a cake in the oven and was on FB and said “I really need to get in the shower” as hubs was leaving to do a few errands. He came back, the cake was out of the oven and I was again on my laptop and hadn’t showered.

Me: “I really need to get in the shower.”

Him: “You said that before I left.”

Me: “I can’t get off FB, people keep talking to me, it would be rude not to answer.”

Him: “Put down the laptop and slowly back away. You can do it. I’m here for you.”

Smarta$$.

Now click on the links below for a peek into some other homes:

The Rowdy Baker

Just a Little Nutty

The Momisodes

Spatulas on Parade

The Sadder But Wiser Girl

Follow me home . . .

Stacy Sews and Schools

Searching for Sanity

The Lazy Mom's Cooking Blog

Menopausal Mother

Pink Heart String
Spinster Snacks

 

Crockpot Beef Chili

                                                                               ©www.BakingInATornado.com
 
Printable Recipe
 
Ingredients:
2# stew beef
1 cup frozen chopped onion
1 can beef broth
1 bottle beer
1 can (6 oz) tomato paste
3 TBSP chili powder
1 tsp garlic powder
½ tsp chili flakes
1 tsp cumin
½ tsp salt
2 cans black beans, rinsed and drained
1 can corn, drained.
 
Directions:
* Place beef broth, beer, tomato paste, chili powder, garlic powder, chili flakes, cumin and salt in crockpot. Mix together.
*Add onions and beef. Cook on high one hour. Reduce to low and cook 4 hours (can be longer).
*Add beans and corn. Cook one hour more.
NOTE: This can easily be made on the stove as well.