Fly on the Wall, August 2014

Welcome to a Fly on the Wall group post. Today 11 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.

Last month College Boy stopped working for the Congressman. The primary was over and won and there wasn’t any work until the campaign was ready to gear up for the general election. College boy went looking for a job for the rest of the summer.
Here are some words I never thought I’d hear:
College Boy: Mom, I got a new job. There’s a guy working the job right now so they’re going to give me some temporary duties in a different department. Then when that guy goes to jail they’ll move me into the job.

College Boy: Mom, I almost ran over a chicken on the way home from work last night. It jumped out of nowhere in front of the car.
Me: Do you know why you almost hit that chicken?
College Boy: No, why?
Me: It was trying to cross the road.
(College Boy treats me to a major eye roll)
Me: Do you know why it was trying to cross the road?
College Boy, while walking away and rolling his eyes: Lame, Mom. Lame.
Ba ~ dum ~ bump . . . ching. I’ll be here all week folks. Please tip your bartender and waitress.

I had a dilemma a few weeks ago. I’d made a new recipe and we all loved it. It was for Bacon Cheddar Beef Rolls that I cooked on the grill. We all agreed that I should post the recipe to my blog, but every picture I took looked like poop on a roll. I kept envisioning them showing up on late night TV and the whole world laughing at the woman who posted poo on a bun. I tried decorating it, adding side dishes, whatever I could think of, but I’d ask my family and every one got the same response. Dinner was delicious but the picture looks like I’d gone fishing in the potty.
See:

I took one final picture from a different angle and showed the boys.
Me: Well?
College boy: That looks less like poo.
PurDude: Yes, this one’s less poop-like.
So it’s come to this; “less poop-like” is officially a success. But I swear, if I see that picture on late night TV, I’m going into hiding.

Me: I just did the laundry yesterday, how can 3 of your outfits possibly be in today’s wash?
College Boy: Mom, don’t ask questions you know you don’t want the answer to.
Point taken.

PurDude: What’s for dinner?
Me: I’m trying something new. It’s actually a breakfast. I’m calling it a Crab Benedict Roll Up.
PurDude: That sounds interesting. But I don’t like asparagus, I want ham instead of Prosciutto and I don’t want the sauce.
Me: Sorry, you must have missed the part of the menu where it says “no substitutions.”
PurDude: Mostly I’m just asking you to leave off a few things.
Me: OK, you win.
PurDude: I have to work from 5:00 pm to 8:00 pm. Then I’ll come home and change and go to the gym from 8:30 pm till about 9:45 pm, so if you could make it for about 10:00 pm, that would be great.
Me: You better check that menu again. It also has our hours. The kitchen closes long before 10:00 pm. Sorry.
PurDude: No problem, I can still get dinner. I’m related to the owner . . .

Crab Benedict Breakfast Roll Up

PurDude goes to the grocery store with me, a rare occasion. While there he sees frozen Arby’s Curly Fries and asks me to buy them. I do.

The next week I decide to make Leftover Night Steak Sandwiches for dinner and serve the curly fries with them. PurDude ends up working and, although he doesn’t know it, he missed having the fries.

Later that night he called as he left work to say that he was stopping to get a sub and wanted to know if anyone wanted anything. We’d already eaten so we were good.

He walks in the house with a bag and proceeds to tell me that the sub shop was closed. Although he knows that I already ate, he brought me something anyway. He stopped at Arby’s to get himself some chicken fingers and decided to surprise me with Curly Fries.

Have you ever played “Red Light, Green Light”? Everyone moves on “green light” and has to freeze on “red light”.  A fly on the wall may have thought I was playing that game all alone this past month. This is how it went:

I suddenly realized that I will never, ever have to cover a school book again. No ripping up paper bags and measuring and cutting and folding and taping and labeling. This precipitated a spastic happy dance all over the kitchen and into the den.

I just as suddenly realized that in place of covering school books, I’m now PAYING for school books.

RED LIGHT!

This is the exact conversation I had every day all summer long when PurDude got home from his Lifeguarding job.

Me: Hi, honey.

PurDude (putting his shoes into his locker): Tired.

Me: How was your day?

PurDude (walking through the kitchen): Tired.

Me: How’s the job?

PurDude (passing through the den): Tired.

Me: Do you have any plans tonight?

PurDude (heading up the stairs): Tired.

Me: Nice talking to ya.

Amazing that I can miss a non-conversation like this. But I do.

This summer had me learning a lesson in perspective. All winter long, with College Boy away, we were a household of 3 drivers and 3 cars. We all had different schedules and no one’s suffered because we all had transportation.

College Boy moved back in for the summer and we were 4 drivers with 3 cars. Hubs needed his car for work. PurDude needed his car for word and he wasn’t on a set schedule, nor on the same schedule as any of the other lifeguards so he had to drive himself. College Boy got a job that paid better than anything locally and offered unlimited hours. But his job was a half hour from here and his hours were given to him the day before based on their need, so he had to take my car. I had to work anything I needed a car for around the boys’ ever-changing schedules. I was not happy about having 3 cars.

Then Hubs’ car needed an expensive repair. The week after, it needed another expensive repair. We decided not to put any more money into it. So then we were a family of 4 drivers with 2 cars. Hubs had to take my car to work and I was going to have to chauffeur everyone else with the other car.

It was only a few days later, on a Saturday, that I sent Hubs and PurDude out to find a car for Hubs. That day we were once again a family of 4 drivers with 3 cars. 
A week earlier I wasn’t at all happy to have 3 cars. 
One week later I was VERY happy to have 3 cars. Perspective.

Any of you who know me or follow me on Facebook know (all too well) that I just got back from dropping my baby off at college 700 miles away.
I try to deal with stress through humor, so I'm trying to remember some of the little funny moments about dropping him off.
Before he left, PurDude and I went out to buy him a trunk. Not only is a wheeled trunk a great way to get his belongings into the dorm, but it works just as well these days as a table in the dorm room as it had in my day.
In the week before we left, we were talking about packing up to leave and decided that we couldn't buy a mini-fridge here. With his trunk, all his electronics, bedding and whatever else, I was concerned about fitting everything into my car.
Hubs: Well, it would take up less space if we put all of his clothes into the trunk.
Me: Of course we'll put his clothes into the trunk. What did you think I was putting in the trunk?
Hubs: Nothing. You said it was to be used as a table.
Me: And take it up there empty? In what universe does that make any sense at all?

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

Menopausal Mother
Someone Else's Genius 
Go Mamma O 

 

 

 

Crab Benedict Breakfast Roll-Up

                                                                          ©www.BakingInATornado.com
 
Printable Recipe
 
Ingredients (for 2):
2 tortillas
approx. 10 spinach leaves, clean but not cooked
4 slices prosciutto
2 TBSP butter
2 eggs
salt and pepper to taste
4 oz cooked Lump crab meat
4 asparagus spears
 
4 tsp olive oil
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon Dijon mustard
 
Directions:
*Warm the tortillas in the microwave for about 10 seconds.
*Put spinach leaves, in a single layer, into the center of the tortillas.
*Top the spinach with 2 slices of prosciutto each.
*Melt butter in a small fry pan. Crack an egg into the pan and break the yolk if you want. Swirl around in the pan. You want the egg to be thin, it can be as large as the tortilla. Sprinkle with salt and/or pepper to taste.
*Fry eggs to desired doneness, flipping if you prefer fried to sunny-side-up. Repeat with the second egg for the second tortilla.
*While egg is cooking, whisk the olive oil, lemon juice and Dijon together.
*When done, place eggs on the prosciutto.
*Put 2 asparagus spears in the center of each egg and a few pieces of crab on either side.
*Roll from one side to the other. The ingredients should be encased inside.
*Drizzle the sauce over the top. Serve immediately.