First the good news. Last night we managed to get Ethan to swallow a whole spoonful of honey straight (this was recently shown to be more effective than cough medicine) and, while it might have been chance, he only coughed twice the entire night. Before bed and the night before, he was constantly coughing... so much that he was getting bloodshot eyes from the severity. We got the best night of sleep we've had in close to a week. I was up twice, but for minor stuff. The kids woke up, as they've been doing lately, as soon as Jason left. In fact, Ethan seems to wake up while J is downstairs moving around and then watches for his car to leave the driveway, then starts crying about him leaving. Oy! Luckily, Jason left late this morning, so it was after 6 when this started. It wasn't too bothersome though, as we'd all had a good nights sleep. Ethan ended up going to school which was good for him too.

The bad part was that both the kids were extremely touchy and demanding and I spent most my day yelling and uttering threats of impending punishment. Great fun. When I wasn't yelling, I was in tears. I'm feeling so very low right now. Low about my parenting skills, about my judgment (why are we having another child) and the constant wall of frustrations that I keep running into. My spirit is weary.

For dinner, we had a really good salad that Jason's co-worker, Rex, made for him earlier this week. Its from the You On A Diet book. You have to understand something first. Jason does NOT like salad greens that are "leafy" or have taste. He likes iceberg and romaine, and none of that high-falutin' fancy romaine, thank you very much. He's never been partial to nuts or fruit on his salads. Yet his co-worker (note: not his wife) makes this salad for him and he can't stop talking about how good it was. So obviously I had to make it, and make it better than Rex. I shan't be upstaged.

Cranberries, Walnuts, and Crumbled Cheese Over Greens
Serves 2

Dressing Ingredients:

• 1 TBL olive oil
• 1 TBL balsamic vinegar
• 1/2 tsp Dijon mustard
• 1 garlic clove, minced
• 1/4 tsp soy sauce
• Salt and pepper to taste

Salad Ingredients:

• 3 cups packed mixed mesclun or spring greens
• 1/4 dried cranberries
• 1/4 cup walnut halves, raw or pan roasted
• 1/2 cup (2 oz) crumbled farmers cheese (his co-worker used Feta and so did we)

Combine oil, vinegar, mustard, garlic and soy sauce; mix well. Season to taste with salt and pepper if desired. Toss greens with dressing, cranberries, and walnuts. Arrange on plates; top with cheese. Nutritional info.


Rex had served it with chicken breasts cooked on George Foreman grill (yeah, they have one at work, which I find kinda funny), sprinkled with Montreal Steak seasoning. Not to be outdone, I made my own steak seasoning, recipe follows.

Combine:

• 2 tablespoons paprika
• 2 tablespoons crushed black pepper
• 2 tablespoons kosher salt
• 1 tablespoon granulated garlic
• 1 tablespoon granulated onion
• 1 tablespoon crushed coriander
• 1 tablespoon dill
• 1 tablespoon crushed red pepper flake

I generously seasoned the chicken breasts, then grilled them outside for just a few minutes. Dinner came together in no time and was SO good. Gwen ate the salad (no surprise, she takes after me) and Ethan liked eating chicken and Feta on the same fork!