Momnesia The Book

If you remember to defrost the chicken...

One of my recurring Momnesia Moments has to do with chicken. We have a big bag of frozen chicken from Costco, so when I’m planning the meals for the week I always include a chicken dish.

Then when it’s the night for chicken, I think, “Ah, I’ll prepare the chicken.”

A second later, I realize I *forgot* to defrost the chicken. It’s sitting in the freezer hard as a block of ice.

I know, I know – why not just try to defrost it? I would except that it’s usually about 6:00 when I make this discovery and I have to prepare something fast. So I grope around for whatever we have and come up with a creative dish. Like yellow-bell-pepper-edamame surprise. (The surprise is that there's a side of toast.) Yum!

Last night, however, when I had my “let me prepare the chicken” moment, I realized that I actually HAD defrosted the chicken breasts. This was a new one. At first I wasn’t sure what to do. Then I thought, “probably you should MAKE the chicken.”

 

So here is the super-fast and very delicious recipe I followed. Perfect for busy moms. And perfect for those who don’t have world class cooking skills.

 

Ingredients:

• 1 cup of butter (I know – that’s a lot of butter.)

• 1/2 cup of Dijon mustard

• Italian breadcrumbs

• Chicken breasts (3 – 4)

Steps:

• Melt the butter a little, so it’s not all hard. Then mix it with the Dijon mustard.

• Roll the chicken around in this goo and appreciate how fun that is.

• When you feel like you've fully enjoyed playing with the goo, remove the chicken and coat it with the Italian breadcrumbs.

• Bake at 500 degrees for 15 minutes.

While this is certainly a step up from the “Water with Ice Garnish” recipe in our book, I’m certain you can do it. IF you can remember to defrost the chicken…  

At least it didn't go down like this

I was interviewed yesterday for a news segment about Momnesia. It's being developed by Radio Health Journal, a show that is syndicated to radio stations around the country.

They're trying to answer the question: What is "momnesia" and why does it happen? (I'll post a link when the show airs.)

Anyway, I think I did o.k. on the interview. If anything, I probably talked TOO much. Blahdity, blah, blah. But thankfully the experience wasn't anything like this excerpt from the book (when a Mom with Momnesia tries to explain Momneisa)...

 

 

 

 

Don't you hate when your kids do this?

Check out the following scenario. Does this ever happen to you? And isn’t it the MOST ANNOYING thing ever?

SCENE 1

 

 

It’s a normal Saturday morning. You and your husband are just hanging out, looking like Donny & Marie Osmond. You’re wearing your outrageously tight Tweety Bird outfit and you’re trying a new hairstyle. Your husband is sporting his favorite tuxedo with yellow vest. Business as usual.

 

SCENE 2

 

Somewhere in the house, your two kids are concocting a plan. A dastardly plan. “Let’s run into the room and jump on top of mom and dad,” the oldest one says. The little one lights up. “Yes!” she answers. “We’ll  surprise them and jump right onto their heads!”

 

It is not the first time the kids have concocted this plan. And it won’t be the last. Still, they are beyond excited, and they sneak down the hall to carry out their attack.

 

SCENE 3

 

 

You and your husband sense that something bad is about to happen.

 

SCENE 4

 

 

Ooomf! The kids knock the wind out of you and flatten you to the ground. You know they are small and young, but when they barrel into you, it feels like they are 100 times their normal size and strength. It feels like this picture.

 

SCENE 5

 

 

The kids gleefully and maniacally laugh, thinking this is the funniest thing EVER in the history of ever. You and your husband struggle to regain consciousness.

 

LATER...

 

 

Later, punishment is rendered and you Google “broken neck” to try and diagnose your symptoms. Will you be in a full body cast tomorrow? TBD. But the one thing you do know is that this is sure to happen again. And again. And again.

 

The other thing you know is that you should retire that Tweety Bird outfit. Maybe shoot for something a little more age appropriate.  

A list we can all relate to

I found a great Momnesia list over at Secrets of a Suburban Soccer Mom, a blog written by Susan Cross (who is really funny).

Here's the list. See how many things sound familiar to you...

Oh - and check out number 17, then come back here and look at these drawings. Here's the face I think you'd have as you were telling the story:

La, la, la, funny story...

And here's the face when you realize this mistake you're making:

Uh oh! Stop talking, stop talking:

Momnesia: It's Real

If you've read Momnesia, you know that we included an actual brain scan from a mom who just had a baby. It looks like this:

 

Sorry to get all sciency on you - but there it is. Your brain after baby.

If you've had a baby, you can likely relate to this. But guess what? Momnesia isn't just something we moms talk about -- it was covered by USA Today. A respected news organization!

Here's the article that was published back in 2008 -- all about momnesia (the condition, not the book). I saw this article a while ago, but was reminded of it recently when I saw it posted on a few blogs -- and mentioned on Twitter. 

Check it out. One of my favorite things is the picture of the baby at the top of the article. He's like, "Yep, that's right. I AM making mush out of your brain. What are you gonna do about it?!"

Heads and Tails - The Three-Year-Old Way

If you have a toddler/preschooler at home, you know they often make up their own rules for games. You can tell them what to do, but that means nothing to them. Nothing!

So we were in the backyard and I was telling my three-year-old, Claire, about the concept of flipping a coin. How she could choose heads or tails, then she would win or lose based on how the coin fell. She was fascinated by this. So I showed her how to flip the coin. Then I told her, "You try."

I expected this:

 

But instead, things took an alarming turn. She started to wind up like a pitcher getting ready to throw a fastball.

 

Then she hucked the coin across the backyard.  

I was like, “No! Don’t throw it! Flip it!” But she darted over to the coin, totally ignoring me. She picked it up and once again threw it with all of her might. “You’ll take someone’s eye out!” I shouted.

 

Claire has a surprisingly strong arm, and things were getting dangerous. The coin was zooming around ricocheting off of things. I could hear Kate, my six-year-old, shrieking.

 

 

 

Claire kept it up. She would run over to the coin and just huck it in whatever direction she was facing when she picked it up. She even lost it a few times when it flew into the plants.

 

 

But she kept producing more coins.

 

 

Where was this supply coming from!? It was too risky to investigate. I just had to hope it would run out soon.

 

After a while, Kate started yelling out things that they could flip for. “Let’s flip to see who gets to pick a TV show later!” she yelled. Claire would throw the coin, run to it and announce, “you win!” or “I win!” And Kate would call out something else.

 

 

 

Soon they were using the coin to dictate every move. “Let’s flip to see who opens the door to the house.” “Let’s flip to see who takes the first step inside the house!”

 

Just when I thought I’d have to ambush her, Claire lost her final coin. She shot it over the wall into the neighbor's yard.

 

 

 

Hopefully no one was seriously injured.

 

I decided that heads & tails wasn't the best game after all. But then I remembered another game that was fun.

 

"I'm going to teach you Rock, Paper, Scissors," I told her later. "I'll go get the scissors!!" she yelled and dashed out of the room.

 

Hmmm... not good. Not good. "Wait!" I called after her. "Let's just play Pat-a-Cake!"

 

No one can get injured with Pat-a-Cake.

 

... Right?