Sunday, January 06, 2008

Necessity is the mother of invention

Or, you could say, your husband not getting paid this week is the father.

Jason informed me Thursday that I needed to watch my spending (as if I have a problem!) and I was all "Yeah, I know. Gas shot up 15 cents overnight." And he was all, "No, I didn't get paid this week."

Come again?

The car auction where he, my mother, and Amanda work running the cafeteria switched to a new accounting program. And it wasn't printing out any checks! So no bills (including the cafeteria catering bills) were getting paid!

For the record, just about everyone who "for real" works for the auction (i.e., not independent contractors like Jason) gets direct deposit. I think those who don't, get a Visa card with their money on it. So no one who "for real" works there was going without a check.

They had hoped to have a check for him by Friday. Didn't happen, of course. He's probably going to truck it up there tomorrow, which in my book is rather silly, because he has to go up there Tuesday anyway. You know, to work. And, hopefully, get paid for that work.

Anyway, back to my necessity. Instead of going out for our usual Sunday-after-church lunch, Jason asked me last night to take some chicken out of the freezer to throw on the ole' George Foreman today.

Turns out that was a good idea, because we have one very sick little red head in our house and had to leave church early, but that's beside the point. She was fine last night when the decision was made.

Anyway.

When Jason got home, I threw the chicken on the grill with some dry rub and barbeque sauce, and heated up some frozen veggies. Anna Marie ate about two bites of chicken (which she normally loves) and declared herself full.

Told you she was sick.

I had planned on having rotini for dinner. I knew we had a half jar of sauce in the fridge, and I thought we had some noodles. About 4 p.m., Jason waltzes through the living room where AM and I were vegged out, and said, "I know it's a little early to be thinking about this, but what are we having for dinner?"

"Rotini."

"We're out."

Oops. We'd had some Friday night for dinner, and Jason had cooked it before I got home so I was unable to do a pasta inventory.

My mind, which is not used to having to come up with meal plans on such short notice and little food, sprang into action.

We had chicken, and some frozen vegetables, and some rice. Voila! Chicken fried rice!

Sometimes, I'm so smart I scare myself. I felt like an Iron Chef!

We didn't have an egg, but I figured that was the least of my concerns. And I had to use packets of soy sauce left over from our last episode of take out, but hey, they're no longer taking up space in my kitchen.

It turned out pretty good to be the first time I'd made it, and eggless at that. Unfortunately, Anna Marie fell asleep on the couch about the time it was done, and wouldn't eat. I let her stay there for about an hour, and then we moved her to her bed.

She started feeling "puny" last night after we left the funeral home and wouldn't eat her dinner. She's been running a low-grade temperature off and on, and I've been giving her Tylenol and her sinus medicine. This morning her fever had subsided, but once we got to church she was feeling bad again. Our church is in a storefront building, and set up somewhat like a coffee shop (in fact, we have coffee, tea, hot chocolate, and juice free for folks before, during and after service). In one corner we have four circa-1972 vinyl chairs, and she spent the time I was up on stage singing praise and worship curled up in one of those chairs with Jason's coat over her. I think at one point she fell asleep. When I got finished singing, we stayed for a bit of the message and I brought her on home.

She's also complaining of a sore throat (which scares me it might be strep) but she isn't running a very high fever, and she isn't complaining very badly about the throat. Only tomorrow morning will tell if she'll make it to school or not.

Delayed paychecks, sick little ones - it's always something, isn't it?

4 comments:

Valerie said...

crap. what a great way to start the new year.

here's hoping the check gets there...SOON. and that miss AM feels better quick as well.

my hat's off to you - way to plan a meal on the fly, sister!

Susie Q said...

Oh no...poor AM. Poor you!
Lousy stuff...and you are the new cooking Queen of the Universe!

I am still feeling yucky and Bill is just now getting back up to snuff.
It seems to be going around...and around...and around.
Stay well and tell sweet AM I will be thinking about her.

Love and hugs,
Sue

Anonymous said...

Wow! So, not the greatest weekend at your house, then. I hope tomorrow is a pay day and AM feels better. And you can go and get some eggs.

Sheila said...

Hope AM feels better soon!