anniversary day

Let me just share real quickly how Monday went.

First Jack pooped outside again! This time it was in the dirt & when I got out there they'd taken a little shovel & rolled the poop in the dirt so it looked like cat poop in a litter box. And Jack had stepped in it & I heard something about putting his finger in it! So I took him inside straightaway & washed him in cold water & he hated it & I was glad! I hope he's learned what he'll get if he poops outside again! Oh, and he went to time out!

Then while I was feeding Ellie they were playing outside again & Callie's telling me that Jack broke a bulb from the decorative string of patio lights that is hanging over our patio table. But she said they were cleaning it up & I thought it had been an accident although I wondered how it would have been broken but whatever. I finished feeding Ellie & went in the kitchen & heard this "pop" sound a couple times outside. Jack had CLIMBED UP onto the patio table, UNSCREWED 5!!! of my little bulbs, climbed back down with them, and was squatting on the ground throwing the bulbs down TRYING TO BREAK THEM!!! I was so pissed! He went to time out again but please, time out is not enough for something like that! He wasn't allowed outside the rest of the day which he was very upset about & it sucked for me too.

THEN I'd got them lunch & I was on the phone with the newspaper wondering why I haven't been getting my food ads so I didn't notice him taking his plate of pasta, peas, & broccoli from the table into the hall where he opened a closet door that has dress-up stuff, puzzles, a pop-up tent system & a few other things in it and DUMPED HIS PLATE UPSIDE DOWN into the closet! I was furious! He went to time out AGAIN, and again time out is not good enough for that kind of offense! I had to take almost everything out of the closet to get all the peas! I told him he had to stand in time out until I could get a hold of Jeremiah to discuss further punishment options but when I couldn't get a hold of Jer after several minutes I just made him take a nap which he was pissed about because he doesn't normally take naps anymore. It was a great decision! I didn't have to worry about him torturing me for 2 1/2 hours! Of course he wouldn't go to bed that night either because of the nap he'd had! But at least by then I had back-up & he was much better all evening anyway.

I never got to the store that day so I didn't get a very nice meal planned. We still ended up having steak (not that steak isn't nice) & fruit salad & garlic bread, but the steak was a little disappointing. We're ribeye fans but NY strip was on sale & this time it wasn't very tender! I also had made a Chocolate Malt Cheesecake from a new Paula Deen chocolate magazine but it was pretty disappointing. Even as I finished making the crust I thought it seemed like it wasn't a good crust recipe & it wasn't. I should have tweaked the recipe. It had at least twice the butter that it needed so it ended up so firm & chewy that it's impossible to cut through it with your fork & even with a knife it's a challenge. And I baked the cheesecake longer than it suggested, but it still needed to be baked even longer! So now we have this HUGE underbaked, rubber-crusted chocolate cheesecake that's gonna go to waste. Jeremiah & I both agreed that we don't want him to take it to the office because it's kind of embarrasing! We're better cooks than that! We don't want people eating that & thinking what the crap? Don't quit your day jobs! Considering that it probably cost like $12 to make, next time I'll spend the $15 & get the chocolate cheesecake from Sam's Club that I know is DELICIOUS! It's from Cheesecake Factory & you actually get 4 flavors but I like the chocolate one best.