Spastic Matters

Contains whatever hobbies, interests, or enlightenments I am currently having. Warning; it tends to be spastic.

Tuesday, August 14, 2012

Lettuce Wraps Recipe

Pouring Sauce

  • 1/4 cup sugar
  • 1/2 cup warm water
  • 2 tablespoons gluten free tamari (or regular soy sauce if you’re not concerned about gluten)
  • 2 tablespoons rice wine vinegar
  • 2 tablespoons ketchup
  • 1 tablespoon lemon juice
  • 1/8 teaspoon sesame oil
  • 1 teaspoon hot water
  • 1 tablespoon dijon mustard
  • 2 cloves garlic, minced

Ingredients for stir-fry sauce:

  • 2 tablespoons soy sauce
  • 2 tablespoons brown sugar
  • 1/2 teaspoon rice wine vinegar

Ingredients for chicken stir-fry:

  • 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
  • 2 tablespoons sesame oil
  • 2 boneless skinless&nbsp
  • 1 – 8oz can sliced water chestnuts, minced to the size of corn kernals
  • 1/2 cup mushrooms, minced to the size of corn kernals
  • 1/2 onion, chopped fine
  • 3 cloves garlic, minced fine
  • 6 large leaves of iceberg lettuce or nappa cabbage

To make the pouring sauce: 

In a large bowl, dissolve sugar in 1/2 cup warm water, then add soy sauce, rice wine vinegar, ketchup, lemon juice and sesame oil. Mix well and throw in the fridge until you’re ready to eat.

Just before serving, combine 1 teaspoons hot water with dijon mustard and garlic and mix in small bowl. Add to the pouring sauce, 1/2 a teaspoon at time to taste.

To make the stir-fry sauce:

Prep the stir fry sauce by mixing soy sauce, brown sugar, and rice vinegar in a small bowl.
Combine oils and add to wok or large frying pan. Heat oil over high heat until it glistens, about one minute. Add chicken and saute until mostly cooked through, about 5 minutes.

Turn the heat under the wok down to medium-high. Add another tablespoon of olive oil to the pan, wait one minute, and then add garlic, onions, water chestnuts, mushrooms, and the stir-fry sauce you prepared earlier. Stir-fry everything until the mushrooms have cooked through, about 4 minutes, and remove to a serving dish.Serve stir-fry with iceberg lettuce or nappa cabbage leaf wraps and top with pouring sauce.

Thursday, August 09, 2012

How many times can a kid pee in two hour?!


Holy crap-pretty much sums up my morning.  After dealing with uber stress levels, I decided to re-consult my action plans to see where things went wrong.  My conclusion is that there is nothing I could have done to slow things down.  I just need to suck it up and go with the flow-even if that flow is like the screaming mimi ride at water world.  
It started with a 5am feeding for Eden.  Nothing can be helped there.  It will be a few more weeks before she weighs enough for her body to allow her to sleep through the night without eating. It can’t happen soon enough!
At 6am, for some unknown reason, Eden woke up bright eyed and bushy tailed?   I have no idea why.  Her normal wake up time is between 7 and 8am.  I should have just woken up and started my morning, but instead I brought her to bed with me and tried to get her back to sleep.  After an hour of her fussing around because I was trying to sleep instead of giving her adequate attention, I really got upset and started to cry.  I knew that I had to quiet her down fast or the kids would wake up, so I plopped her on the boobies to eat even though she was not really hungry yet.  I was not fast enough though because April woke up.
April, being the social person she is, did not want to be awake alone, so she went and woke her brother up.  While trying to feed Eden, I her Logan scream, “get out of my bed!”  And that was that-everyone was up, I might as well get up and start the day.  
Twenty minutes later I get a call from my dad.  He needs me to bring him his extra set of pick-up truck keys to his work because he left his setting his semi and sent it off to be greased and oiled.  I rushed around getting all three kids dressed and ready to go and in a record setting time of ten minutes and we were off to rescue papa.   
Papa was very thankful and wanted to take us to breakfast at McDonalds and I could not refuse.  In the middle of eating, April had to go potty, so we went.  After, while we were washing our hands, papa came and brought me Logan saying he said he had to go also.  “YOU LEFT THE BABY IN THE PLAY AREA!!!!!!” I screamed.  Holy shit, my dad had left the baby sitting in her carseat, on top of our table,  along with my purse which was wide open with money showing.  He was trying to be helpful and get Logan to the potty before he had an accident but OMG, I would have rather Logan taken a huge crap in his pants rather than leaving Eden in the play area alone.  I did not want to freak out on him and no harm was done, so I quickly got over it.  Writing this now, I can see it was just a suppressed freak out not a forgotten one.  
A few minutes after we settled back to our table, Eden started to get hungry and with all the noise, it would have be impossible for her to eat there, so I decided to gather the kids up and head home.  Logan would not get out of the play tubes.  With Eden screaming behind me and Logan ignoring me, I finally worked out to trick to get him to come out.  I told him, “look at that pink tube slide, can you go down that big boy slide?”  And it worked!  squeaking his feet the whole way, he slide down very slowly.  Once he got to the end, dad tried to grab him, but he slipped away and started to go back up the slide.  I be damned if he escape again, so I crawled my ass halfway up that slide and grabbed onto his feet then yanked him back down.  Victory!!  With Eden screaming and two kids in tow, we all left.  
Poor Eden was past being hungry and started screaming hysterically, so on the way home, I pulled over in a park parking lot, threw my phone to Logan to occupy him and started to feed Eden.  She ate for about 10 minutes and was happy again.  I quickly changed her wet diaper and put her back in the car seat.  
At this point, I should have went home, but I needed to pick up ribbon for Chad’s light project and since we were very close to Michael’s I went for it. I
Fourty minutes later, we finally leave Michael’s.  It takes a long time to shop with all three kids.  Although they were well behaved in the store, Logan had to potty and each of them wanted to stop and look at stuff.  We shopped at a snail’s pace.  Nevertheless, I was able to get what I needed and we headed home.
A few blocks from the house Logan says he has to go potty AGAIN!  How many times can a kid pee in less than two hours.  I coached him on how to hold and squeeze tight so nothing comes out, and I speed home.
We get home and I rush him into the potty, throw down his shorts and underoos and seat him on the potty.  The he starts screaming about wanting his shoes and shorts off.  In an earlier post I mentioned how Logan prefers to potty naked and how I plan to remedy that, so I stuck to my guns and did not help him get his shoes off.  Normally Logan can maneuver his own shoes, but when his sweaty feet are in sandals and he is on the potty with no leverage, getting them off is difficult.  
Not helping him turned into a blowout fit, with him spitting and screaming, all while sitting on the toilet.  I did not cave though!  I shut the  door and let him work it out!  Where is Eden in all this, oh yeah, in her bed screaming bloody murder because she is really tired, but can’t fall asleep. April, my angel, is already in the backyard playing with Darwin.
I call Chad and share all the craziness with him, hoping to take a breather and it works.  Just being able to tell him makes me feel better and after that we had a good 35 minutes of peace.  We ate a quiet lunch of leftover chinese food and I enjoyed the re-instated calm.
Things were nice.  Eden was asleep, lunch was cleaned-up and all was well, but then Eden woke up crying because she was hungry.  Eden being hungry so close to Logan’s bedtime prompted me to put him to bed a few minutes early, so letting Eden cry for a couple minutes, I took Logan potty (I know what you are thinking-potty again!  But I always take him just before naps- it ensures I don’t have to change peed sheets, potentially making less work for me)  Ok, so I took Logan potty and was impressed that he climbed up on the toilet seat without needing a stool or potty seat.....little did I know....He pees right on me.  He was unable to hold himself up on the seat with no stool to brace himself so when he peed it streamed horizontal, right at me.  OI guess he still needs a potty seat and stool!  
I get him and me cleaned up, put him to bed, then head in to feed Eden.  She eats for a few minutes, poops then falls asleep.  I wake her up, change her, then finish feeding her.  She is again bright eyed and bushy tailed, so we head into my bedroom together so she can relax on the bed and I can re-read my action plans to see how I could have prevented the crazy morning.  
Right Now, Eden is laying next to me, lulled to sleep by the sound of me clicking letters on the keyboard.  April has found solace in her ipod and I was thinking I might sneak a few zzzs myself. Awwwwww too late.  I hear Logan getting up from his nap a mere hour after he fell asleep.  Oh well, it has been said before that there is no rest for mothers!

Wednesday, August 08, 2012

Potty training and hallway light project


Note: not proof read.
Week 6 of potty training has been going well.  Who knew it would take this long.  Logan is pretty quick to figure things out, I am surprised he is still having difficulty.  I have caught him more than once trying to pee while standing.  This would be ok except he does not quite reach and sprays across the bathroom.  No matter how many times I clean, I can still smell pee somewhere. God knows where he has gotten it, because I have scrubbed everywhere-even the walls.  Next week I plan to start fine tuning potty training and add things like, just pulling the underoos down and taking them off.  At the moment he thinks he has to get completely naked in order to pee- I need to remady that.  

I finished the hampster house and it came out 50 percent as good as I hoped.  I was most disappointed in the paint job.  I tried to make it gothic, but failed miserably. I was I was better at drawing.  

My next project is a light for the entry way.  I plan to give it to Chad for our anniversary.  My plan is to take and old light, paint it black then put a homemade shade on it.  For the shade, I plan to use my bedroom trashcan as a mold and decoposh black ribbon around it.  After removing the can, I should have a nice frame to put over the painted light.

Saturday, August 04, 2012

Bang Bang Shrimp

OMG Yummy Bang Bang Shrimp
  • 1 lb. medium shrimp, peeled and deveined
  • For the sauce:
  • 1/2 cup mayonnaise
  • 1/4 cup Thai Sweet Chili Sauce
  • 4-5 teaspoons chili garlic sauce, such as Sriracha sauce
  • 1 teaspoon granulated sugar
  • 1 teaspoon rice vinegar
  • For the egg mixture:
  • 1 egg, beaten
  • 1 cup milk
  • For the breading mixture:
  • 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
  • 1/2 cup panko breadcrumbs
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
  • 1/4 teaspoon onion powder
  • 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
  • 1/4 teaspoon dried basil
  • For frying:
  • 8 to 12 cups vegetable oil
Instructions
  1. Combine all ingredients for the sauce in a small bowl; cover and set aside.
  2. Combine beaten egg with milk in shallow bowl; set aside.
  3. Combine flour, panko, salt, black pepper, onion powder, garlic powder, and basil in another shallow bowl; set aside.
  4. Bread the shrimp by first coating each with the breading mixture. Dip breaded shrimp into the egg and milk mixture, and then back into the breading. Arrange the coated shrimp on a plate and pop them into the fridge for at least 20 minutes. This step will help the breading to stick on the shrimp when they are frying.
  5. Heat oil in deep fryer to 350 degrees F. Use amount of oil required by your fryer.
  6. When oil is hot, fry shrimp 2 to 3 minutes or until golden brown. Drain on rack or paper towels.
  7. When all shrimp has been fried, drop the shrimp into a large bowl. Spoon about 1/4 cup of sauce over shrimp and stir gently to coat.





Fr

Thursday, August 02, 2012

Ooo love page 154!


I had a lovely evening last night.  I was super excited to get my 2013 Ikea book in the mail, so after the kids were in bed, Chad made me a mojito and I sat in the front living room flipping through the 300+ pages.  
I found one particular page design that I loved.  Red sofa, white coffee table, black and white striped rug, colorful couch pillows-  It was cheery and fun, right up my alley!    
I showed it to Chad, saying, “If I didn’t have a husband that I had to compromise with, this is what my living room would look like.”  Chad is all about minimalism and classic contemporary design. I also like contemporary design, but I like mine with pops of color and more flavor.  Chad is not very adventurous when it comes to color.     
He laughed and said, “I like everything on that page... except for the pillows”  
Using my half grin I told him, “The pillows are my favorite part”  Oh well.  If I ever get my dream crafting room, I know what it will look like- page 154 of the 2013 Ikea booklet, and that is one room, I won’t have to compromise on.

Somehow the kitchen floor got so dirty and sticky that I had to mop it before I could sweep it.  I spent a good portion of Logan’s nap time, mopping, sweeping, then mopping again.  The other part of nap time was spent working on my current project, The guinea pig house for Cavin and Kaitlyn's House warming party.