Living In America ..You say Goodbye, I say Hello, ...

[kickassangel]

New Thread.

Hi, another one checking in after a break. after yellowstone (mine & dh's 2nd time, dd's first) we spent a few days in chicago. it's a lovely city, but quite hard work to do with a little one,and we were sharing a room so couldn't investigate any night life.

'did' practically EVERYTHING there - aquarium, science museum (that was dd's brithday treat), natural history museam, planetarium, sears tower, the pier, and LOTS of walking around.

dd doesn't start school for over another week, then for the first time in my life i will be home alone all day - i have a load of 'projects' to get done, but seriuosly, what will i do? i'm used to full time teaching!

sorry, just noticed mathanxiety there. hi.

Hello mathanxiety, I just moved away from Chicago.

Well done on your filing, Earlybird... if you want to do mine, I'd be very grateful.

Dinner has his 1st settling in session at nursery tomorrow. He is excited and I am a little sad. I can't believe my baby is such a big boy!

Welcome mathanxiety

Glad you had a good holiday in London, earlybird.

kickass, don't worry, dh is a SAHD and always complains of not having enough time to get everything done Your days will fill up quickly methinks.

Oh Kickass, just reread and saw that you were in Chicago! It's fab. Did you do the fountains in Millenium Park? They were a firm favourite.

sb, weather wasn't so good, but not too bad. we walked from top of mag mile to museum of science one day, so right through millenium park, past the cloud etc.

we were just one block up from hancock building in a v swanky hotel (dh found a 40%discount!!), so HAD to pass gucci, bulgari, tiffany's etc etc, several times a day. luckily, the only thing we succumbed to was the cheesecake factory

That's a long walk, kickass. We stayed in the Westin up there and it was good. And there is a fab salon at 900 N Michigan where I used to get my hair cut. I miss them a lot!

mmm cheesecake factory mmmmm

You know, the only thing I don't like at the Cheesecake Factory is cheesecake

I've found that same thing, SB. I can make a much better one at home.

You do have to be impressed with a place with such an extensive menu that manages to do every dish I've had well. I know CF is maligned in foodie circles, but screw them, anyway.

Glad you had fun in Chicago, kickass.

there's someone wanting advice on med ins for the US.

I claimed that we were all experts & she should come over here to ask for help as we have all the answers (NOT).

Dooney - perhaps your dh could help her out?
(Dons hard hat & hopes it's not too soon to laugh at mr dooney's divorceable silly mistake?)

OOh, how could I have been on Mumsnet all this time and not found this thread? Can I join in? I'm in Atlanta, been here for 5 years, originally from Glasgow.

hi. we're fairly friendly, but tend to be on at odd times. i'm about to go off & do the ironing, whilst drinking a g&t & watching a chick flick.

see, abandoning my career to become an international housewife, is just so glamorous?

personally, i regard this as the 'safe' bit of mn, even arts & crafts is more controversial than we are! we mainly discuss food, weather & health insurance. it's thrilling, honest.

Thanks, I am exhausted mum to a 7 month old baby who rarely sleeps, so I'm fairly certain that I lost the ability to have a thrilling conversation a few months ago. Now I just aim for coherent!

Well, kickass, I'm sure if DH helps out, he'll having them paying much less than they should be, if nothing else. (It is actually a fairly good time to joke about this, as Colin's school sent home some sort of odd insurance thing that will cost $19 for the year to cover emergency dental situations, so I'm doing that and then only have one of them to worry about for the next 4 months, since we didn't pick up a dental plan.)

Welcome, Shanster. Neither of mine slept, and DD was just plain diabolical and there was a period of several months where I was getting sleep in several 10-20 minute increments, so get where you're coming from about just aiming for coherency.

Welcome Shanster - my DS was much like Dooney's DD so I am most sympathetic to people with non-sleeping DC.

Had 1st day at work today - 3 children, 4 adults. I had a cup of tea, played in the soft play room, went to the sensory room, had tea, helped with lunch, ate lunch, had tea, made pizza and came home. Not bad, eh?

Sounds like a lovely first day. Nice that you could have such an easy sounding one, especially after being out of the work force for a bit.

i'm guessing you're not just in a normal primary school. sound like fun

So someone said a few days ago that we share recipes here. So.....let's start.

What are your top 3 school day evening meals? Must be easy/quick, nothing with exotic ingredients, and something your kids love. (I need ideas desperately as am failing in duties to dd. Never seem to get it together to prepare much in advance, and never feel satisfied with what I throw together when we get home at. 5.30).

Am anxiously awaiting ideas.....

Yeah, is not a mainstream school.

Favourite meals here are:

Tortellini - I usually throw peas and something else in the pan when I cook it.

Um, other stuff. Can't remember

Did I hear the word recipes?

I was going to link to several different recipes that come from Cooking Light that are 20 minutes or so, but I found a page where they have links to many of those for you.

The kids really like apple chicken quesadillas, buffalo chicken wraps (minus the hot sauce), veggie mini pizzas, and taco pasta..

I'm not sure if these came up in the Cooking Light thing, but 2 of my favorite really quick meals are Italian sausage and white beans (although it is really bizarre to get most of your meal out of cans, it is really good, at least to us, and this pasta one.

Sometimes I like to dump a bunch of things in the crockpot, and have it ready when we get home. The ingredients look odd, but it is quite minimal, and not only do we and the kids love it, my in-laws love Chicken taquitos It says to cook them 4 hours, but they're just fine as long as you have enough moisture in there for 8, I've found. Or pulled pork sandwiches.

I'm kind of a big recipe geek, and I've got way more, but I think I'll stop now to keep from looking totally pathetic.

dd doesn't like any sauces or gravy at all.
so i do things like pasta, with lots of veg, and cheese sprinkled on top

or 'pizza' from a tortilla, with cheese & veg, maybe some coked turky, melted onto the top (no tomato sauce)

these are my '10 minute cheats' for when we've been out & come straight home to dinner & bed.

today we went to see our first US football game. twas University of Michigan, over 100,000 people. i was v impressed by all the razzmatazz - barely had time to watch the game, there was so much to look at. i was sort of mesmerized by the marching bands, who can dance AND play at the same time, in formation. it was vv clever, but also just a bit ... strange at the same time!

Ohhh, a big ten game

I was in the band in high school but it's a whole different league in college...

dinner recipes...............

We have company in for the weekend. I ordered Papa John's online.

My first and only American Football game was Yale V Cornell. It was very long.

MMm, pizza

dooney - at first glance, those look great. Can't wait to try some of them. I'm convinced that compiling a repertoire of easy/quick/good recipes will solve my weeknight cooking dilemma. Imo, recipes which have been tried/ recommended by friends are much preferable to sitting down in my kitchen with a big cookbook, so please do share more!

Jabber - I'm a bit like you (at least on this occasion)...far too much ordering out/picking up/takeaways. Then I feel guilty when I see dd looking pale, as I'm sure it's contributed to by too few good home cooked meals.

kickassangel - I love going to football games. When I pick dd up from school in the afternoons, we pass a field where a big college marching band practises. We have stopped a few times, and got out to watch/listen. It's very exciting.