The Best of Intentions

I don't think our fridge has been wiped down since I was pregnant with Max. I took care of it when I was nesting and the next thing I knew there was a baby, and then a toddler, and then preschool for the toddler's brother and then an unknown substance of a color not found in nature spilling down the interior wall on the second shelf. In an effort to ease the shock of this experience I started planning ahead and purging outdated things ahead of time. Next, I went on a grocery buying ban. And for the last week, we have searched a bare bones fridge full of grossness for something to eat while putting off restocking until it was cleaned.

Last night I finally mustered the courage to tackle the job. I cooked extra sloppy joes so the boys would eat their fill while I labroed away and leave plenty of leftovers for lunch today. I started grabbing things from shelves to rest on the counter and found a few more mysterious pieces to add to the garbage can. In an effort to prevent freezing of the kitchen, I turned off the fridge's cooling so I could clean to my heart's content. And boy is it clean.

I delicately placed the jelly and other condiments on the shelves and in the door so we could read the labels, reorganzied the produce drawer and packed up the leftover sloppy joes to ready them for transport to the office in the morning.

At this point in the evening, its fair to mention that I gave Max a bath, Gage a shower, took something for my headache, hauled too big/too small clothes upstairs to restock the boys' drawers, put the kids to bed and sorted said clothes. Then I went to bed.

This morning, Jack kindly reminded me that next time I turned off the fridge, to turn it back on when I am finished.

Note to self: pick up perishables on the way home. Your fridge is empty.

Looks like frozen pizza for lunch.

The Rebirth of Cold Meat Sandwiches

Many conversations between Dana and me go something like this:

K: Enchilada and Dr. Pepper for lunch. mmmmm
D: Sounds good. I had a sandwich.
K: I don't do sandwiches. I just can't make myself do it. Jack would eat one everyday. They just don't inspire me.
D: I put bacon in mine and grill it like a panini.
K: That's tempting. What do you eat with it?
D: Chips.
K: Ooh, good idea.

I can't really explain why I don't like cold sandwiches for lunch. There aren't any horror stories about moldy meat, eating them everyday for lunch when I was a kid or soggy bread. I would just rather have a hot meal. It could be all of the years I spent eating hot lunch in the public school system. Whatever the reason, I know it would be cheaper and make more sense to just eat a sandwich, but instead I'll cook a frozen pizza, grab something hot at the deli or order subs (what? that's also a cold sandwich...interesting...).

Today, my world may have changed forever.

Anybody out there ever make your kid a silly face sandwich? We have once or twice for Gage and he gobbles those suckers down like nobody's business. It never occurred to me that maybe I needed to be "inspired" by creativity too. This morning Dana sent me a link to http://www.ziggityzoom.com/ and the first place I visited was the food section. Its almost lunch people, give me a break.

Immediately, I printed off every sandwich faced idea they included. Check out a few of my favorites:

Pinto Pony
Rocket Ship
Pirate
Lion

My boys will go nuts for this stuff. I'm certain Jack dream of soaring into outer space when I serve his cold ham and cheese in rocket ship form today. Let's hear it for cold sandwiches next week! Gotta jet - I'm on my way out the door to stock up on bread and veggies!