J: I’m waiting for my prince to come.

C: That might take a long time.

J: You’re right.  (counting her coins)  At least I’ve got lots of money.

One of my biggest worries with them starting school is that I will have to pack all three of us a lunch.  Every day.  I am not that creative with my meal planning and I come by it honestly.  When I was in the 5th grade I mentioned to my mom that I liked peanut butter and dill pickle sandwiches (in a bun).  I’m not sure where I ever learned of this combo, but I did enjoy it.  That is, until my mom packed me this same sandwich for lunch.  Every day. By the end of grade five, my sandwich was going straight from my lunchbox to the trash.  I haven’t even looked at such a sandwich since.

I hope I don’t fall in to this pit fall with my own kids.  It is so easy to latch on to what is proven.  I’m hoping to get creative and I’ve been eyeing some of the bento style lunch kits, hoping I’ll be inspired to provide variety by all the little compartments.  Besides, I have the advantage of having access to thousands of recipes on the web.  There really is no excuse.  So I’ll be surfing the web this week, looking for new ideas.  I’m also taking part in the Lunch Revolution Blog Party.  In the interest of helping others come up with ideas, here is one of our favourites:

Salmon Cakes

• bake a piece of salmon for about 20 minutes.
• Meanwhile boil some peeled and cubed potatoes until soft. Then mash the potatoes with a little butter and milk & add some veggies (I often use corn and lightly fried onions).
• Pour in 1 lightly beaten egg.
• When the salmon is done, cut in to small pieces and add to the potato / egg / veggie mixture.
• With your hands make little patties and coat in crushed cornflakes.
• Fry the patties in olive oil.

Simple and Delicious!

Yesterday we (the girls, my 1-year old nephew and I) went to a local indoor play place that has a section specifically for children aged 3 and under.  My kids still have half a year left in that category.  I don’t mind them going in the older kid area when the play place is quiet, but I feel they are still a bit young to be off on their own for extended periods of time and they still enjoy the younger kid area.  They are pretty good listeners and they know to stay away from the little, little kids so it’s not really a problem.

Or is it?  See, my daughters are tall.  J, especially, looks much older than 3.  In the time I was at the play place yesterday, I heard several offhand comments from other moms that may or may not have been directed at us about how the area was supposed to be for 3 and under ONLY.  But we were there legitimately and for the most part I chose to ignore these comments.  It makes me self-conscious though and sad that we, as parents, are so quick to make assumptions.

Edited to add:  And YES, I see the irony here.  I am assuming that they are making assumptions of me.  Urg!  It always sucks to make a complaint and then realize it applies to yourself.

Our attempts to leave:

1. The first attempt was innocent enough.  We packed up and headed down the hall.  I remembered that I forgot something.  We came back to the house and I turned off the alarm.  I grabbed the item and we prepared to exit once again.  The phone rang.  I answered it because for some strange reason I can’t not answer it.  It was our dentist confirming appointments for G and I for tomorrow.  But for some reason, my appointment had been moved from the slot I made it for at 4pm to the slot next to G’s in the morning.  Great, now we can carpool tomorrow.  Not so great, now we need to arrange babysitting.  J is going to her Aba & Pops for a special day, so she’s not a problem.  I call my friend.  She can watch C & R tomorrow.  Of course, she is 20 minutes in the opposite direction of my appointment, but whatever, problem solved.  Elapsed time: about 15 minutes.
2. This time we made it to the elevator, but someone had an accident.  Back to our house, alarm off, a change of clothes and a potty break for everyone, alarm back on.  Elapsed time: 11 minutes.
3. Another time making it to the elevator only to have J dissolve in to a fountain of tears because she has forgotten her teddy bear, Happy,  at the house during the potty break fiasco.  Alarm off, grab Happy, C now NEEDS her teddy, Teddya, which she can not find.  I find Teddya, alarm on, out the door.  Finally.  Elapsed time: 4 minutes.

Total time to leave our house today: 30 minutes.

I actually did buy G’s Father’s Day present on time this year.  It was a beautiful frying pan much like this one, but in cherry red.  The girls and I made a big production of giving it to G on Father’s Day and he loved it!  However, an hour later I told G he had to take the pan back.  And I made him come with me in to the store to return it, because I’m a wimp like that.

See, I have been known to obsessively research my purchases online.  The night before Father’s Day, with the present safely tucked away, I was still reading to make sure my $180 purchase was money well spent.  That’s when I came across info that the Le Creuset frying pans in the red spectrum contain cadmium in the outer paint.  They claim it is entirely safe, but then again, so do the teflon pans I was buying this item to avoid.  I couldn’t sleep that night thinking about how I was paying $180 to poison my family.  I knew the pan would forever be tainted in my eyes, so poor G spent his Father’s Day returning his beloved present (you can see why he really, really deserved this – he is a very patient man).  Turns out Cherry Red was the only colour carried around here.  We have continued to look for, talk about, and obsess over, these pans ever since and G is getting desperate to have one for keeps (in a nonpoisonous colour).

So I came across a contest on SPIFFYKERMS.COM for a $60 CSN gift card.  I entered, and won!  You can read my prize winning entry here.  Unfortunately, we had kind of spent the money we got back for G’s returned gift, so this was the perfect catalyst to him finally getting his Father’s Day present.  CSN was very prompt in sending me my gift code and I purchased the pan tonight.  The Le Creuset 11.75″ Iron Handle Skillet in Cobalt was on sale for $139.95 (US) PLUS it came with a free Le Creuset 9″ Square Dish.  Sweet!  Because of CSN’s great pricing, even with tax and international fees my order would have come out around the $180 I had originally paid (shipping on this item to Canada was FREE).  Then, with my gift card, I only had to pay $124.03 for both items shipped to my house.  Yay!!!!  I’m so stoked.

Here’s the FREE square dish.  Did I mention it was FREE?

So in the end, G will finally get his well deserved Father’s Day present.  Oh, and I think I might have told him it was his birthday present, too.  That was in July.

Needless to say, this resulted in a coffee-breath trip to the store for new ones. I usually have a few in reserve, but I had just changed my toothbrush last week.