The “Grill-More” Girls – Simple Grilled Scallops

Posted on 05/17/2012 by TheHarriedMom

This week this “Grill-More” Girl tried her hand at another seafood dish, Simple Grilled Scallops.

Grilled scallops can turn a plain steak dinner into a fab surf and turf entrée or they can stand alone as a tasty main dish. Scallops are a great source of protein, and if prepared properly they have a very unique, sweet flavor. I’d only ever prepared them on the stove top in a frying pan or broiled in the oven. My thought was that they might be too delicate for the grill and that I would char them into burnt little discs, but grilling scallops isn’t tough at all. It’s easy just as long as you follow a few simple rules…

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A Hair-Raising Experience

Posted on 05/16/2012 by TheHarriedMom

No matter how many books I read or how-to videos I watch on You Tube, I simply cannot do my daughter’s hair. Each day I take a brush in my hand and say confidently to myself – today her hair will look beautiful, but by the time I’m done, she looks like one hot hair mess!

My daughter this morning, her hair already matted – as soon as she sees me with the brush it will be WW III

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UNCOMMON COURTESY

Posted on 05/15/2012 by TheHarriedMom

As the train neared my station stop yesterday, I gathered my things and started to make my way to exit. There was a young woman sitting directly across the aisle from me who was also getting up. We both got to the aisle at the same time and after a brief pause I said “it’s okay, you can go ahead.” The woman never looked up at or even acknowledged me. She just made her way to the rear of the train. As I followed her down the aisle to the exit door, she dropped her umbrella and her car keys. I bent down to help her and handed her the umbrella. Again, she never looked up at or said anything to me. She just took her umbrella and turned on her heel to leave. I wanted to call out after her and say “you’re welcome!” but I thought better of it.

I always shake my head in disbelief at how many adults don’t say “Please” and “Thank You.” I know that we all encounter it every day. “Gimme that.” “Move it.” “Yep.” When did we all become so rude? Weren’t we taught when we were kids that there were “magic words” and when used, they could make amazing things happen? Why do people stop saying these words?

Image credit: Little Minnow Designs

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M-O-M Spells Mom….

Posted on 05/09/2012 by TheHarriedMom

You’d have to be hiding under a rock (or maybe just a guy) not to know that this Sunday, May 13 is Mother’s Day. For the past few weeks I’ve been flooded with advertisements and direct marketed emails for all sorts of “gifts to get mom” – flowers, jewelry, cookie bouquets and even boxes of chocolate covered strawberries.

My son made & gave this to me..I say handmade is heartmade!

I love Mother’s Day. For me, it’s the perfect holiday. I don’t have to worry about revealing my age, have a big family get-together or spend hours slaving over a hot stove for a fancy celebratory meal. It’s also not a holiday about gifts — I’m happy to get a small bunch of flowers and cards from the kidlets (though I do suspect I’ll be getting some perfume since The Hubs has asked me the name of the scent I wear three times in the past week).

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Model Behavior?

Posted on 05/07/2012 by TheHarriedMom

Have you been following Linda Evangelista’s child support case against billionaire Francois-Henri Pinault? The one-time supermodel had been asking her baby daddy for a whopping $46,000 a month to raise their five-year old son. Now, I’m all about parental financial support-when two adults bring a child into the world, they both have an obligation to provide whatever the child needs, regardless of whether they stay together as a couple or not. But what I keep wondering, like most sane people out there, is “how on earth does it cost $46K a month to raise a five-year old?”

Richie Rich – The Poor Little Rich Boy (image credit: Cover Browser)

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Finally Friday – A New Perspective

Posted on 05/04/2012 by TheHarriedMom

Yay, it’s Finally Friday – but it’s a little bittersweet for me.

At 4 pm today, the little office I’ve called home for the past four years and I will be parting ways. It’s been a good office – located in a nice quite corner in the interior of our building that is often forgotten about. It’s been the perfect for me to get all my work done in peace. It’s where I hid out during my second pregnancy – first shielding myself by sitting behind my desk to keep from revealing my news before I was ready and then offering privacy when I tossed my cookies (note to self: don’t pack up that garbage can). It’s hard for me to believe that all my worldly work possessions fit so nice and compactly into four small moving bins.

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They’re Just Little Kids, Can’t They Have Some Fun Without The Pressure

Posted on 05/03/2012 by TheHarriedMom

This image has been making well-deserved rounds in social media the past few days. Whenever I witness or even hear about parents and adults behaving like this, I cringe. I cringe because it happened to me – and even all these years later, still brings back some very hurtful memories.

I was 11 years old playing on a team in my town’s recreational softball league. I had been playing softball since I was about five and I loved it. I was a decent player – a good fielder and an okay hitter. I mostly was a pitcher, much to my mom’s chagrin. She didn’t like that there was all that pressure on me to literally be “pitch perfect.” Though it was stressful, I told her that it was worth it for the huge self-confidence boost I got any time I had a good game and our team won the game.

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The “Grill-More” Girls: Garlic And Lemon Rotisserie Chicken

Posted on 05/03/2012 by TheHarriedMom

Keeping with my goal to be a little more adventurous with my grill meals, this week I’m serving up Garlic-Lemon Rotisserie Chicken.

Rotisserie chicken is a popular meal option these days – from fast food restaurants to the deli counter at your supermarket to wholesale clubs (a CNBC documentary I saw about Costco last week said they sell 55 million of them a year!), and I’m telling you, it is an easy way to cook chicken! Food that is cooked slowly and in a constant rotation, helps to self-baste the food, providing a flavor and tenderness that are hard to achieve cooking any other way.

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