Disappointment and Egg Rolls

As I mentioned yesterday, my Daughter had a really bad day. I will elaborate because there are actually funny moments to this story.

Daughter is in a competitive writing club for her school (ok, this is so geekish on so many levels but I love that she is in it). There are 8 kids on the "team" and the big drama yesterday was that her writing "coach" picked the other 7 kids to go to Regional's and Daughter as the alternate. Daughter asked why she wasn't picked as one of the finalists and her "coach" told her that her writing is not as strong as the other's, that she writes more details than creative ideas, and her work is not as good as the other team members.

Silence from me when she tells me this. She is sobbing hysterically and it hits me that this is the FIRST time ever she has been told her work was not as good as other's. She is a straight A student, has been her entire life. And suddenly the Golden Child is not so Golden, more Bronze.

I am still silent as I honestly don't know what to say to her (Husband picked her up from school and had the 20 minutes of sobbing on the way home. He told her "You will be disappointed a lot in your life, get used to it!!" But when he got home, he had that crazed look in his eyes and told me we must kill writing coach. Okay.....?)

So I sat in silence and let her continue on with her rant. Here comes the funny part: She told me "The other kids wrote about their parent's dying and some kids wrote about their parent's battling cancer and how sick they were. Who wants to read that??" I had to bite my cheek to not laugh.

Her biggest complaint is this: as alternate, she has to go to the competition and basically do NOTHING the entire day (of course this is a weekend she is here, so it is our entire day, too). She gets to write in the first 40 minute competition but her work won't even be read. My idea: Write about how STUPID BEING AN ALTERNATE IS. Petty? Yes, you have met me, right? She loved the idea and I hope she bangs out one hell of an essay. Her Father is an excellent writer and I am an okay writer, I know she can do it. I also told her there will be all kinds of alternates from other schools and I bet she will meet some nice kids. Maybe some boyzzzz..

Today I made egg rolls from scratch. I was going to include a picture but we ate them so fast I didn't have time to get my camera. The recipe was easy, all things bought from Meijer: egg roll wrappers (they are actually pasta so you can make ravioli or lasagna with them!!! They are like $1.50 for 100!!), coleslaw cabbage mix, bean sprouts, water chestnuts, and cooked chicken. I mixed a little Teriyaki sauce mix into them and some fresh ginger but it wasn't enough. They were crispy but bland. But we ate all of them so not so bad. Will make them again. I love cabbage and all those crunchy things and could eat them for every meal.

Weight Warriors
Don't let the weekend be an excuse from eating well and exercising. I like to get a lot of work out time in on the weekends so I don't feel so bad if I slack on a day or two during the week. I hit my 200 cardio minutes this week, plus some, and am going to knock the hell out of the weights tomorrow. I just read an article about how lifting heavier weights can benefit you in losing weight and toning.

This is also a great time to throw a whole bunch of stuff in the crockpot and eat it all week. Buy one of those $5.99 bags of boneless, skinless chicken breasts and throw it in the crockpot. You can make chicken salad, chinese chicken salad, stuffed shells, chicken tacos, etc. Having cooked chicken in the fridge cuts WAY down on prep time.

I hope you all have a good weekend. I am exhausted and need some good sleep. Eat and live well this weekend.

Cat