Holy crap, you guys....

This has been a whirlwind of a week in the Kali house. All in one week's time we have managed a family wedding, that half of us were in, Halloween, a call from school about eye rolling (I have no idea where he gets that from), and some kind of rash that was something out the movie "Outbreak" (to be clear, it was on Kels, not me). Somehow, we've managed it all, and we've walked out of the week with some good stuff....fantastic memories from an awesome wedding, a boat load of candy, some good life lessons (we all make mistakes, apologizing, AND forgiving, is a gift), and although it looked like some kind of leprosy or Ebola, Kelsey did not, in fact, end up shooting blood out of her eyes, as I feared she might do, at any given moment, and she is on the mend. Some may think that being a Registered Nurse is a helpful skill when raising kids. They are wrong. I can take care of someone else's kids just fine, but with mine I lose all reason, and jump to the most catastrophic place possible. And because I'm a Nurse, I have a head full of catastrophic knowledge. Somebody pass the xanax, please. Happy November.


What's to drink....

I didn't have a lot of time to try anything new this week. As I said, wedding, Halloween, Ebola, etc. got me all sorts of flustered. So, I figured I would stay honest about what I ACTUALLY drank this week. Weddings are all about the long haul, so I made the decision that sticking to light beer was probably my best bet at not making a total and complete ass of myself in front of my family being able to party like a much younger version of myself, for the whole night. I forgot how much I like this beer. It's got a little bite for being a light beer. I like a little bite, under the right circumstances. Anyway, there are 6 Amstels here. I drank them, times like 576. Weddings are so fun. This beer is good. Cheers!

                                              Amstel Light - The light beer with a little bite that will get you through a wedding without making an ass out of yourself, or get you to the point that you don't remember, anyway.

What's to eat....

This meal was all about convenience without eating like total garbage. Is it perfect, no, but it's easy as hell and better than just ordering a pizza, which I already did this week, twice, actually. The kiddos had the meatballs on the rolls, which I toasted. I threw them over arugula with a side of roasted cauliflower, you know, because I'm not a total animal. I didn't make any of this from scratch, but it's a fairly healthy meal, that took about 10 minutes to prepare, that my kids love, so that's a home run. My fave store bought kinds are below.

Turkey Meatballs over Arugula with a side of Roasted Cauliflower 

Buy all this stuff. Easiest dinner ever.

Working on my managing expectations....

This is a tough one, for everyone, I think. But wouldn't the world be a better, easier, place if we could all manage our expectations a little better. The wedding got me thinking about this, and of course I thought about it in regards to my own marriage, but that's a potential shit show for another day. This shit show is about my expectations for my kids, particularly, my 3 year-old, at this wedding. Kelsey was asked to be the flower girl. My new sis-in-law has a flair for the dramatic and picked out the largest flower girl dress anyone has ever seen. To give you an idea on size, I was carrying the dress through the hotel, with Kelsey walking by my side, and a woman stopped and asked ME if I was wearing it. So, big, red dress, complete with train and all, you get the picture. We talked to Kels for weeks about the wedding and her job. She was stoked. She kept saying "I'm going to walk down the island all by myself". We did the rehearsal. She did fabulous. Fast forward to the day of the wedding, she's up late the night before, she's had to sit to get her hair done, she FALLS ASLEEP 5 minutes away from the church. I got the dress on her and she was NOT pleased. And I was sweating profusely and panicking that she was going to pull a full-blown flip out, never less refuse to walk down the "island" by herself. Anyway, the time came to go, she started to walk toward the church doors, took one look at the crowd, retreated, and sat on the ground. I'll never forget that moment, her sitting in a pile of red tulle, refusing to walk, holding up the entire wedding. I wasn't sure what to do, and I didn't have a plan B. So I scooped her up, and awkwardly walked her down the aisle, all while trying not to trip, and trying to assure that my left boob didn't pop out of my low-cut shirt that was not meant for carrying a 45 lb kid, in a huge dress, down an aisle. It all worked out, but it would have been a little less anxiety provoking had I managed my expectations A LITTLE better.  Anyway, here we are, big dress, near wardrobe malfunction, in front of family, friends, and JC. I guess it could have been worse. 

Wishing you ALL of the Good Stuff. 

XO

Tara 

P.S. Happy birthday, Strist.